R.  b.  i<w::>c. 

ubrH'ry^ 

UNivL  .  .n  OF 

CAUF'.^NIA 

SAN  DIEGO 

MA 

■  T 

presented  to  the 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSHT  OF  CALIFORNIA  •  SAN  DIEGO 

by 

FRIENDS  OF  HIE  LIBRARY 

MR.    JOHN  C.   ROSE 

donor 

Icnichcrbockcr  IWuagete 


NvGGET— "  A  diminutive   mass  of  precious  metal. 


,;7    VOLUMES    NOW    READY. 
For  full  list  see  end  of  this  volume. 


M^HisT  Nuggets 


BEING   CERTAIN 


WHISTOGRAPHS 


HISTORICAL,    CRITICAL,    AND   HUMOROUS 


Selected  and  Arrang;ed 

by 

WILLIAM  G,  McGUCKIN 


NEJV    YORIC  AND    LONDON 

C.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 
Ube  1F?nicherboctjer  iprees 


Electrotj-ped,  Printed,  and  Bound  by 

Zbc  Tknicl^crbocftcr  press,  IRew  J^orft 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 
INTRODTCTORY vii 

MODERN  WHIST i 

London  Quarterly  Review,  January,  1871 

WHIST  AND  WHIST-PI,AYERS        ....      33 
Abraham  Hayward,  in  Fraser's  Mag- 
azine, April,  1S69 

THE  THIRTY-NINE  ARTICLES  OF  WHIST        .     112 
Richard  Irving  Dunbar 

RHYMING  RUIvES,  MNEMONIC  MAXIMS,  AND 

POCKET  PRECEPTS 120 

William  Pole 

THE  DUFFER'S  WHIST  MAXIMS  .        .        .        .123 
Cavendish's  Card  Essays 

WHIST,  OR  BUMBLEPUPPY 

On  Things  in  General 130 

Practice  of  Bumblepuppy      .       .       .       .132 

Thinking 144 

The  Domestic  Rubber 150 

Whist,  or  Bumblepuppy  ?  by  "Pembridge." 
—Roberts  Bros. 

iii 


iv  Contents 

PAGE 

CARDS  SPIRITUALIZED I53 

Anon. 

MRS.   RATTLE'S  OPINIONS  ON  WHIST  .     158 

Charles  Lamb 

LADIKIS'  WHIST I73 

The  spectator,  1S90 

WHISTOLOGY 183 

All   the    Year   Round,    March  17, 
i860 

WHIST  AT  OUR  CLUB 203 

Blackwood's  Magazine,  May,  1877 

A  HAND  AT  CARDS 230 

American    IVhist  Illustrated,   by    G.  W.  P. 
—Houghton.  Mifflin,  &  Co.,  1890 

A  WHIST  PARTY    • 238 

The    Tailor-Made    Girl,    by    Philip    H. 
Welch— Chas.  Scribner'a  Sons,  1888 

AT  BOVOR— PLAY  A  GREAT  GAME  OF  WHIST    244 
Happy  Thoughts,  by  F.  C.  Bumand— 
Roberts  Bros. 
GOSSIP  : 

I.  Edward  Everett  at  the   Court   of 

St.  James 266 

Geo.   Wm.   Curtis    in    "Editor's     Easy    • 
Chair."    Harper's  Monthly  Maga- 
zine, May  1876 

II.  Metternich's  Whist  .        .       .        .271 

Chamber's  Journal,    February    28,    1863 
m.  Lord  Lytton  as  a  Whist-Player        .    274 
Serjeant  Ballantine's  Experiences  of  a 
Barrister's  Life. 


Contents 


PAGE 

IV.  Some  Literary  Recollections      .       .    276 
James  Payn.      Harper  &  Bros.      1871 

V.  Anecdotes 281 

Cavendish's  Card-Table  Talk 
VI.  Advantage  of  Skill  at  Whist    .        .    284 
Cavendish's  Card-Table  Talk 

SOME  WHIST  CHAT 289 

R.  A.  Vrociox— Longman' s  Magazine 


INTRODUCTORY. 

IN  presenting  to  the  reader  this  little  heap  of 
Whist  Nuggets,  the  Collector  begs  to  inter- 
pose a  word  of  introduction — to  explain  the 
purpose  that  has  guided  their  selection,  and  to 
express  his  appreciation  of  the  courtesy  of  the 
proprietors  on  whose  lands  they  have  been 
picked  up. 

The  Editor  has  not  had  in  mind  the  compila- 
tion of  a  text-book  on  the  principles  of  the  noble 
game.  Nevertheless  it  is  hoped  that  the  student 
of  the  scientific  side  of  whist  will  find  nmch  to 
interest  him  in  the  first  three  numbers.  Where 
the  first  two  pass  from  the  history  of  primitive 
whist  to  a  discussion  of  the  latest  development 
of  play,  they  will  be  found  already  somewhat 
old-fashioned,     although     hardly    more     than 


UntroOuctorg 


twenty  years  have  passed  since  they  were  writ- 
ten. What  may  be  called  the  body  of  the  game, 
however,  remains  substantially  what  Hoyle  and 
Mathews  developed,  as  is  made  plain  by  a  com- 
parison with  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  Whist, 
the  third  number,  which  the  courtesy  of  Mr. 
Richard  Irving  Dunbar,  one  of  the  most  accom- 
plished whist-players  in  Gotham,  enables  the 
Hditor  to  include,  and  which  is  a  codification 
of  the  rules  of  whist  as  played  by  Mr.  Trist,  of 
New  Orleans,  a  player  from  whom  the  master, 
Cavendish  himself,  has  not  been  ashamed  to 
learn. 

No  collection  of  whistographs  would  be  com- 
plete which  did  not  include  one  from  the  inim- 
itable author  of  Biimblepuppy ;  and,  by  the 
courtesy  of  "  Pembridge  "  and  of  his  publishers 
in  the  old  world  and  in  the  new,  the  assiduous 
bnmblepuppist  will  find  here  all  the  conso- 
lation of  which  he  or  she  has  never  felt  the 
need. 

To  the  lovers  of  fun,  whether  whist-players 
or  occasional  bumblepuppists,  the  Editor  confi- 
dently recommends  the  great  game  at  Bovor, 


•ffntroDuctors 


as  described  by  Mr.  Burnand,  in  his  Happy 
Thoughts  ;  and  to  the  courteous  editor  of  Punch 
and  his  publishers  this  Editor's  thanks  are 
rendered. 

The  quiet  English  humor  of  Whist  at  Our 
Club  offers  a  striking  contrast  to  the  pungent  wit 
of  the  extract  from  Philip  H.  Welch's  Tailor 
Made  Girl,  included  by  the  kind  permission  of 
Messrs.  Charles  Scribner's  Sous,  as  well  as  to 
that  of  a  Hand  at  Cards,  taken  from  G.  W.  P.'s 
Americayi  Whist  Illust^'ated,  with  the  author's 
permission  and  that  of  Messrs.  Houghton, 
Mifflin   &   Co. 

To  all  these,  as  well  as  to  Mr.  George 
William  Curtis  and  the  Messrs.  Harper  & 
Brothers,  the  Editor  gives  due  and  grateful 
credit  elsewhere. 

After  the  manner  of  his  mightier  brethren, 
the  Editor,  as  whist-player  and  whist-lover,  dis- 
claims all  responsibility  for  the  opinions  here- 
inafter set  forth  ;  and  his  desire  not  to  abate  one 
jot  or  tittle  of  an  author's  right  to  ungarbled 
citation  must  be  his  apology  to  his  gracious 
reader  for  the  repetitions  that  will  be  discovered, 


•ffntroDuctor^ 


as  well  as  for  the  appearance  and  reappearance 
of  that  castaneous  relic,  Talleyrand's  remark 
anent  the  sadness  of  a  whistless  old  age. 

The  cards  are  cut  and  dealt. 

Mesdarnes  et  messieurs,  faites  voire  Jeu. 


WHIST  NUGGETS, 


MODERN  WHIST. 


T^HE  game  of  whist,  after  two  centuries  of 
'^  elaboration,  has  now  become  a  favorite 
amusement  in  all  ranks  of  society,  and  especially 
with  persons  of  great  intelligence  and  ability. 
Numerous  societies  have  been  established  ex- 
pressly for  its  practice,  and  at  many  of  the 
West  End  clubs  it  is  played  daily,  particularly 
in  the  afternoon,  when  the  mental  faculties  are 
more  active  than  in  the  evening.  At  these 
little  gatherings  may  be  seen  men  of  high  rank, 
sitting  at  the  same  tables  with  others  eminent 
in  literature,  science,  art,  or  the  public  service 
— all  testifying,  by  the  earnestness  with  which 


Timbist  muggete 


their  attentiou  is  fixed  on  the  game,  to  its  great 
intellectual  attractions.  In  the  best  private 
circles,  too,  and  in  domestic  society  generally, 
its  high  character  is  becoming  better  appre- 
ciated, although  the  style  of  pla}'  is  still  far 
from  what  it  ought  to  be. 

Whist  is  of  English  origin,  but  its  popularity 
is  not  confined  to  this  country.  On  the  Con- 
tinent it  has  become  fully  naturalized  ;  the 
finest  player  that  ever  lived  was  a  Frenchman, 
and  the  most  elaborate  works  on  whist  are  by 
foreign  authors.  It  has,  in  fact,  extended  over 
the  whole  earth  ;  there  is  not  a  spot  where 
European  civilization  prevails,  where  whist  is 
not  practised  and  prized.  A  published  collec- 
tion of  Whist  Studies  dates  from  the  tropics  ; 
in  the  rigor  of  the  North  American  winter  whist 
forms  the  occupation  of  the  frozen-up  inhab- 
itants for  months  together  ;  and  in  the  wilds  of 
Australia  the  farmers  play  at  whist  for  ''sheep 
points,  with  a  bullock  on  the  rubber." 

We  need  not  hesitate  to  give  a  place  in  our 
pages  to  an  intellectual  occupation  of  such  high 
and  universal  interest  ;  and  we  propose,  first, 


/IRoDcnt  Mbfst 


to  offer  a  concise  history  of  the  game;  next,  to 
describe  the  chief  characteristics  of  its  most 
modem  and  improved  form  ;  and,  lastly,  to  add 
a  few  remarks  on  whist  playing. 

The  early  history  of  whist  is  involved  in  some 
obscurity.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  game 
of  this  high  character  should  have  sprung  at 
once  perfect  into  being  ;  it  has  been  formed  by 
gradual  development  from  elements  previously 
existing.  As  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century  a  card-game  was  in  common  use, 
of  which  both  the  name  and  the  chief  feature 
enter  prominently  into  the  construction  of 
whist.  This  was  called  trmniph — corrupted 
into  trump — and  the  essence  of  it  was  the  pre- 
dominance of  one  particular  suit,  called  the 
triumph  or  trump-suit,  over  all  the  others.  It 
was  of  Continental  origin,  like  most  of  the  card 
games  in  use  at  that  period.  A  work  published 
in  Italy  in  1526  speaks  of  it  under  the  name  of 
Ti-ionfi,  and  it  is  mentioned  by  Rabelais  as  la 
Triumphe,  among  the  games  played  by  Gargan- 
tua.  From  France  it  was  imported  into  Eng- 
land, where  it   soon  became  popular  in  good 


llClbtst  muggcts 


society,  as  we  find  a  reference  to  it  in  a  quarter 
where  it  would  hardly  be  looked  for,  namely,  in 
a  sermon  preached  by  Latimer  at  Cambridge 
the  Sunday  before  Christmas,  1529.  He  men- 
tions the  game  under  its  corrupted  as  well  as 
its  original  appellation,  and  clearly  alludes  to 
its  characteristic  feature,  as  the  following 
extracts  will  show  : 

"  And  where  you  are  wont  to  celebrate  Christmass  in 
playina:  at  cards,  I  intend  bj'  God's  grace  to  deal  unto 
you  Christ's  Cards,  wherein  you  shall  perceive  Christ's 
Rule.  The  game  that  we  play  at  shall  be  called  the 
Triumph,  which,  if  it  be  well  played  at,  he  that  dealeth 
shall  win  ;  the  Plaj-ers  shall  likewise  win  ;  and  the 
standers  and  lookers  upon  shall  do  the  same 

****** 

"  You  must  mark  also  that  the  Triumph  must  apply 
to  fetch  home  unto  him  all  the  other  cards,  whatever 
suit  they  be  of. 

"  Then  further  we  must  say  to  ourselves.  What  requir- 
eth  Christ  of  a  Christian  man?  Now  turn  up  j-our 
Trump,  your  Heart  (Hearts  is  Trump,  as  I  said  before), 
and  cast  your  Trump,  your  Heart,  on  this  card." 

Other  references  to  this  game  are  found  at  a 
later  period  ;  we  need  only  mention  two.  In 
Gammer  Gurtou's  Needle,  said  to  be  the  first 
piece  performed  in  England  under  the  name  of 


/IRodern  Mblst 


a  comedy,    and   written   by   Bishop  Still  soon 

after    the    middle   of   the    sixteenth    century, 

occurs  this  passage  : 

"  Chat.     What,  Diccon  ?    come  nere,  je  be  no  stranger  : 
We  be  set  fast  at  trump,  man,  hard  by  the  fjre. 
Thou  shalt  set  on  the  king,  if  thou  come  a  little 
nyer. 

*****  ■•): 

Come  hither,  Dol  ;  Dol,  sit  downe  and  play  this 

game, 
•    And,  as  thou  sawest  me  do,  see  thou  do  even 

the  same  : 
There  is  five  trumps  besides  the  queene,  the 

hindmost  thou  shalt  find  her  ; 
Take  hede  of  Sim  Glover's  wife,  she  hath  an 

eie  behind  her." 

Another  reference  is  by  Shakespeare.  In 
Antony  and  Cleopatra,  act  iv.,  scene  12.  An- 
tony says  : 

"  My  good  knave,  Eros,  now  thy  Captain  is 
Even  such  a  body  :  here  I  am  Antony  ; 
Yet  cannot  hold  this  visible  shape,  my  knave. 
I  made  these  wars  for  Egj'pt ;  and  the  Queen,— 
Whose  heart  I  thoug-ht  I  had,  for  she  had  mine  ; 
Which,  whilst  it  was  mine,  had  anuex'd  unto  't 
A  million  more,  now  lost,— she,  Eros,  has 
Pack'd  cards  with  Csesar,  and  false  played  my  glorj- 
Unto  an  enemy's  triumph.^' 

This  passage  has  been  the  subject  of  several 
comments  ;  but  the  repeated  allusions  to  card- 


Tttflblst  muagcts 


playing  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  reference  in 
the  last  word. 

The  game  of  Triumph  appears  to  have  been 
played  in  several  different  ways,  some  of  which 
resembled  our  present  Ecarte  ;  they  had,  how- 
ever, little  similarity  to  whist,  except  in  the 
feature  of  the  predominance  of  the  trump-suit, 
which  was  common  to  them  all. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury the  game  had  acquired  in  England  another 
name,  which  is  also  preserved  in  whist,  namely 
Ruffe.  It  has  often  excited  curiosit}'  how  the 
word  for  an  ornament  to  the  neck  or  wrists 
should  have  come  to  be  used  for  this  purpose  ; 
but  it  is  possible  it  may  have  been  only  another 
corruption  of  the  original  French  triomphe,  as 
there  is  much  similarity  in  the  sounds.  At  any 
rate  the  terms  were  synonymous,  as  Cotgrave, 
in  his  French  and  English  Dictionary,  1611, 
explains  the  French  word  trioniphe  to  mean 
"the  card-game  called  ruffe  or  trump"  ;  and 
Xares  in  his  Glossar}-  says  "  ruff  meant  a  trump 
card,  charia  doininatrixy 

But   contemporaneously   with    this    change, 


/IBo&ern  Wibist 


the  game  itself  had  also  undergone,  in  Eng- 
land, some  modifications  which  caused  it  to 
differ  materially  from  the  original  foreign  type, 
and  among  these  was  the  attachment  of  certain 
advantages,  or  "honors,"  to  the  four  highest 
cards  of  the  trump-suit.  This  was  probably 
of  itself  an  ancient  invention,  for  we  find  a 
game  called  "  Les  Honeicrs  "  in  Rabelais'  list; 
but  the  importation  of  it  into  trump,  or  ruff, 
gave  the  game  a  new  character,  and  it  took  the 
name  of  "  Ruff-and-honors,"  the  original  form 
being  called  "  French  ruff  "  for  distinction. 

Ruff-and-honors  was  played  with  a  pack 
of  fifty-two  cards,  the  ace  ranking  the  highest. 
There  were  four  players,  two  being  partners 
against  the  other  two,  and  each  received  twelve 
cards  ;  the  remaining  four  were  left  as  a  stock 
on  the  table,  and  the  top  one  was  turned  up  to 
determine  the  trump-suit.  The  player  who 
happened  to  hold  the  ace  of  trumps  had  the 
privilege  of  taking  the  stock  in  exchange  for 
four  cards  of  his  own,  an  operation  called 
ruffing.  The  score  was  nine,  and  the  partners 
that  won  most  tricks  were  "most  forward  to 


8  Mbi6t  muaaets 

win  the  set."     Three  honors  in  the  joint  hands 

were  reckoned  equivalent  to  two  tricks,  and  four 

honors  to  four.     This  came  very  near  to  whist, 

and  was,  in  fact,  whist  in  an  imperfect  form. 

The  further  changes  in  the  constitution  of 

the  game,    and   the   radical   alteration    of  the 

name,  appear  to  have  taken  place  early  in  the 

seventeenth  centur\\     The  first  form  of  the  new 

designation  was  Whisk,  a  word  which  occurs  in 

Taylor's  Motto,   by  Taylor,    the    Water   Poet, 

published  in   1621.     vSpeaking  of  the  prodigal, 

he  says  : 

"  He  flings  his  money  free  with  carelessnesse, 
At  novum,  mumchance,  mischance  (chuse  ye  which), 
At  one-and-thirty,  or  at  poore-and-rich. 
Ruffe,  slam,  trump,  nody,  whisk,  hole,  sant,  new  cut." 

The  origin  of  the  word  is  obscure  ;  but,  in 

default   of  a   better   explanation,    it  has   been 

suggested   that  it   was   used   by   the   common 

people  as  a  synonym  for  ruff^  in  ridicule  of  the 

affectations  of  the  gallants  who  played  at  the 

game.     The  article  of  dress  in  fashion  under 

the  latter  name  at  the  time  is  described  as 

"great  and  monsterous,   made  either  of  cambric,   hol- 
land,  lawue,  or  els  of  some  other  the  finest  cloth  that 


/IBo2)crn  tlClbist 


can  be  got  for  money,  whereof  some  be  a  quarter  of  a 
jard  deepe,  yea  some  more,  hanging  over  their  shoulder- 
points,  instead  of  a  vaile.  But  if  ^olus  with  his  blasts, 
or  Neptune  with  his  storms,  chaunce  to  hit  upon  the 
crasie  barke  of  their  bruised  ruffles,  then  thej'  goeth 
flip-flap  in  the  winde,  like  ragges  that  flew  abroad,  lying 
on  their  shoulders  like  the  disheclout  of  a  slut." 

This  sort  of  thing  might  well  be  ridiculed  as 
a  zvhisk,  which  not  only  meant  "  a  small  besom 
or  brush,"  but  also  referred  to  an  article  of 
dress  : 

"  Their  wrinkled  necks  were  covered  o'er 
With  whisks  of  lawn,  by  grannums  wore 
In  base  contempt  of  bishops'  sleeves." 

Thirty  or  forty  years  after  Taylor's  mention 
of  the  word,  as  applied  to  the  game,  it  had  be- 
come changed  to  its  present  form,  the  earliest 
known  use  of  which  is  quoted  by  Johnson  from 
the  second  part  of  Hudibras  (spurious),  pub- 
lished in  1663 : 

"  But  what  was  this  ?    A  game  at  Whist, 
Unto  our  Plowden-Canonist." 

In  1674  we  find  a  published  description  of  the 
game  in  a  curious  book,  ascribed  to  Charles 
Cotton  the  poet,    and  entitled    The  Coinpleat 


mhiet  n\XQQct6 


Gamester;  or  Instructions  hozv  to  play  at  Bil- 
liards, Trucks,  Boculs,  and  Chess;  together 
zvith  all  manner  of  usual  and  most  gentile 
Games,  either  on  Cards  or  Dice.'''  In  this  book 
a  chapter  is  devoted  to  "English  RufF-and- 
Honors  and  Whist,"  and  it  contains  the  fol- 
lowing passage  : 

"  RufF-and-honours  (a/m^slamm)  and  Whist,  are  games 
so  commonly  known  in  England,  in  all  parts  thereof, 
that  every  child  almost  of  eight  years  old  hath  a  compe- 
tent knowledge  in  that  recreation." 

After  describing  ruff-and-honors  the  author 
says,  "Whist  is  a  game  not  much  differing 
from  this."  The  ruffing  privilege  was  abol- 
ished ;  each  player  still  had  twelve  cards,  but, 
instead  of  leaving  an  unknown  stock  on  the 

*  The  frontispiece  to  this  book  represents  various 
games  being  plaj-ed,  and  is  accompanied  by  a  punning 
description  of  them  in  verse.  One  figure  shows  a  game 
at  whist,  in  which  ladies  take  part,  and  the  rh3'me  says  : 

'■  Lastly  obser\'e  the  women  with  what  grace 
They  sit  and  look  their  partners  in  the  face, 
Who  from  their  eyes  shoot  Cupid's  fiery  darts. 
Thus  make  them  "lose  at  once  their  game  and  hearts. 


Ladies  don't  trust  j'our  secrets  in  that  hand 

Who  can't  their  own  ito  their  own  grief  ^  command, 

For  this,  I  will  assure  j'ou,  if  you  do, 

In  time  you  11  lose  your  Ruflf  and  Honour  too." 


/RoDcrn  1imbi6t  n 

table,  the  four  deuces  were  discarded  from  the 
pack  before  dealing  ;  a  great  step  in  advance, 
as  it  enabled  the  players  to  calculate  with  more 
certainty  the  contents  of  each  other's  hands. 
The  score  was  still  nine,  tricks  and  honors 
counting  as  before. 

Cotton  never  uses  or  alludes  to  the  earlier 
name  "  whisk,''  but  he  gives  an  independent 
derivation  of  the  newer  word.  He  says  the 
game 

"  is  called  whist  from  the  silence  that  is  to  be  observed 
in  the  play." 

This  meaning  is  warranted  b}-  the  custom  of 
the  time.  The  word,  although  treated  as  a  verb, 
adjective,  or  participle  by  Shakespeare,  Milton, 
vSpenser,  and  others,  is  defined  by  Skinner 
(1671),  one  of  the  best  authorities,  as  interjectio 
silcntimn  imperans ;  and  so  it  was  commonly 
used.  In  an  old  play,  written  by  Dekkar  in 
1604,  we  find  the  example  : 

"  Whist  !  whist !  my  master." 

Cotton's  derivation  of  the  present  name  has 
been  adopted  by  Johnson  and  Nares,  and  has 


12  mbiBt  mu^aets 

always  been  most  commonly  received  ;  but  it 

must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  word  "  zchisk  " 

is  the  older  of  the  two,  and  that  it  continued  in 

use,  along  with  the  other  name,  for  a  centiuy 

after  Cotton  wrote.    Pope,  in  his  epistle  to  Mrs. 

Teresa  Blount,  17 15,  says  : 

"  Some  squire,  perhaps,  you  take  delight  to  rack, 
Whose  game  is  Whisk,  whose  treat  a  toast  in  sack." 

Johnson  describes  whist  as  "vulgarly  pro- 
nounced whisk ' ' ;  and  the  Hon.  Daines  Barring- 
ton,  writing,  in  1786,  on  games  at  cards,  adopts 
the  later  orthography  without  any  qualifica- 
tion. 

It  is  possible  to  reconcile  the  two  derivations 
by  supposing  that,  w^hen  the  game  took  its 
complete  form,  the  more  intellectual  character 
it  assumed  demanded  greater  care  and  closer 
attention  in  the  play  ;  this  was  incompatible 
with  noise  in  the  room  or  with  conversation  be- 
tween the  players,  and  hence  the  word  "■Tvhist!  " 
may  have  been  used  in  its  interjectional  form 
to  insist  on  the  necessary  silence  ;  and  from  the 
similarity  of  this  to  the  term  already  in  use  the 
modification  in  the  last  letter  may  have  taken 


/IRoC)ern  limbist  13 

its  rise.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  in  a 
fashionable  book  on  Ombre,  published  in  Berlin 
in  1 7 14,  the  writer,  who  had  probably  never 
heard  of  the  English  game,  says  :  "  Pour  bieu 
jouer  V ombre,  il  faiit  du  silence  et  de  la  tran- 
quillitiy 

But,  whatever  may  be  the  views  held  in  this 
country  as  to  the  origin  of  the  name  of  our 
national  card-game,  it  is  only  fair  to  our  in- 
genious neighbors  across  the  Channel  to  give 
their  explanation,  w^hich  we  find  in  a  French 
work  on  whist : 

"  At  a  time  when  French  was  the  current  language  in 
England,  the  people  had  become  so  infatuated  with  one 
of  their  games  at  cards,  that  it  was  prohibited  after  a 
certain  hour.  But  parties  met  clandestinely  to  practise 
it  ;  and  when  the  question  "  Voulez-voiis  joiier  f''  was 
answered  by  "  Out  !  "  the  master  of  the  room  added  the 
interjection  "  St!  "  to  impose  silence.  This  occurred  so 
often  that  "  Oui-st "  became  at  length  the  current  appel- 
lation of  the  game  !  " 

With  these  names  there  came  to  be  associated 
another  of  a  very  strange  character,  namely 
^'swabbers"  or  ''szaobbers."  Fielding,  for  ex- 
ample, in  the  account  of  Jonathan  Wild's  visit 
to  the  sponging-house  in  I^ondon,  in  1682,  says, 


14  TKabist  IRu^Gets 

"whisk  and  swabbers  was  the  game  then  in 
the  chief  vogue."  vSwift,  in  his  Essay  on  the 
Fates  of  Clergymen,  ridicules  Archbishop  Ten- 
ison,  who  was  said  to  be  a  dull  man,  for  misun- 
derstanding the  term.  He  relates  a  well-known 
storj'  of  a  clergyman,  who  was  recommended 
to  the  Archbishop  for  preferment,  when  his 
Grace  said,  "  He  had  heard  that  the  clergyman 
used  to  play  at  zuhist  atid  siuobbers ;  that  as  to 
playing  now  and  then  a  sober  game  at  whist 
for  pastime,  it  might  be  pardoned  ;  but  he  could 
not  digest  those  wicked  szuobbei's.''  "It  was 
with  some  pains,"  adds  the  Dean,  "that  my 
Lord  Somers  could  undeceive  him."  Johnson 
quotes  the  pretended  speech  of  the  Archbishop, 
and  defines  szaabbers  as  "  four  privileged  cards, 
which  are  only  incidentally  used  for  betting  at 
whist."  These  were  probably  identical  with 
the  four  honors  ;  and  it  has  been  conjectured 
that  as  "  zi'hisk  "  was  intended  to  ridicule  ''ruff,'^ 
the  analogous  term  '* swabbers"  (from  swab, 
a  kind  of  mop)  may  have  been  added  to  supply 
the  place  of  the  other  part  of  the  original  name  ; 
so  that ' '  luhisk  and  swabbers  ' '  was  made  the  vul- 


/IRoOern  lllflbist 


gar  synon3'm  for  the  *'  ruff  and  honors  "  of  the 
fashionable  world.  But,  however  this  may  be, 
the  additional  term  w^as  of  limited  application, 
and  soon  went  out  of  use. 

It  is  curious  that  although  the  precursors  of 
whist  had  enjoyed  favor  in  high  places,  yet 
whist  itself,  in  its  infancy,  was  chiefly  played 
in  low  society,  where  cheats  and  sharpers  as- 
sembled. The  greatest  part  of  Cotton's  chap- 
ter is  devoted  to  a  warning  against  the  tricks 
and  frauds  of  these  gentry.  He  alludes  to  the 
"arts  used  in  dealing,"  and  shows  how,  by  in- 
genious devices,  "  cunning  fellows  about  this 
city  may  not  only  know  all  the  cards  by  their 
backs,  but  may  turn  up  honors  for  themselves, 
and  avoid  doing  so  for  their  adversaries."  The 
following  passage  gives  some  significant  hints  : 

"  He  that  can  by  craft  overlook  his  adversaries'  game 
hath  a  great  advantage,  for  by  that  means  he  maj-- partly 
know  what  to  play  securely.  There  is  a  way  to  discover 
to  their  partners  what  honours  they  have  ;  as  by  the 
wink  of  one  eye,  or  putting  one  finger  on  the  nose  or 
table,  it  signifies  one  honour  ;  shutting  both  the  eyes, 
two  ;  placing  three  fingers  or  four  on  the  table,  three  or 
four  honours." 

In  a  rejjublication  of  Cotton's  work  in  1734, 


i6  mbiet  'Umgcte 


these  cautions  are  amplified,  showing  that  whist 
still  retained  the  same  low  character.  The 
editor  says,  "as  whisk  [he  uses  the  old  appella- 
tion] is  a  tavern  game,  the  sharpers  generally 
take  care  to  put  about  the  bottle  before  the 
game  begins."  A  special  chapter  is  given  to 
"piping  at  whisk";  and  as  this  is  an  accom- 
plishment not  generally  known  at  the  modern 
clubs,  the  following  extract  may  be  inter- 
esting : 

"  ]iy  piping  I  mean  when  one  of  the  company  that 
does  not  play  (which  frequentlj'  happens),  sits  down  in 
a  convenient  place  to  smoke  a  pipe  and  so  look  on,  pre- 
tending to  amuse  himself  that  way.  Now  the  disposing 
of  his  fingers  on  the  pipe,  while  smoking,  discovers  the 
principal  cards  that  are  in  the  person  s  hand  he  over- 
looks, which  was  always  esteemed  a  sufficient  advantage 
to  win  a  game.  This  may  also  be  done  by  another  way, 
i.e. ,  without  the  pipe,  and  by  common  conversation.  '  In- 
deed,' signifies  diamonds;  'truly,'  hearts;  'upon  my 
word,'  clubs  ;  '  I  assure  you,'  spades."  * 

It  is  only  fair  to  add,  that  with  the  bane  the 
editor  supplies   also   the   antidote.      He   says, 

*  "  There  are  several  other  bare-faced  practices  made 
use  of,  such  as  looking  over  hands,  changing  cards  under 
the  table,  and  often  from  off  the  table  ;  but  these  are 
generally  made  use  of  by  women,  who,  when  detected, 
laugh  it  off.  without  any  sense  of  shame  or  dishonour. " — 
Annals  of  Gaming. 


jflBoDern  Mbist  17 


''For  ivhich  reasons,  all  nice  gamesters  play 
behind  curtains.'" 

There  is  other  evidence  of  the  low  character 
of  whist.  In  Farquhar's  comedy  of  the  Beaux' s 
Stratagem,  1707,  Mrs.  Sullen  speaks  of  "the 
rural  accomplishment  of  drinking  fat  ale,  play- 
ing at  whisk,  and  smoaking  tobacco  with  my 
husband."  Fielding  and  Pope,  as  we  have  seen, 
both  speak  of  it  disparagingly  ;  and  Thomson, 
in  his  Autumn  (1730),  describes  how,  after  a 
heavy  hunt  dinner, 

"  whist  awhile 
Walks  his  dull  round  beneath  a  cloud  of  smoke 
Wreath 'dfragant  from  the  pipe." 

This  being,  he  adds,  one  of  the  "  puling  idle- 
nesses'* introduced  to  cheat  the  thirsty  mo- 
ments until  the  party 

"  Close  in  firm  circle,  and  set,  ardent,  in, 
For  serious  drinking. ' ' 

In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
there  was  a  mania  for  card-playing  in  all  parts 
of  Europe  and  in  all  classes  of  society,  but  in 
the  best  circles  whist  was  still  unknown.  Gen- 
tlemen in  their  gaming  coteries  chiefly  prac- 
3 


i8  Mblst  IFluQgets 


tised  piquet  (a  very  old  game,  invented  in 
France  in  the  fifteenth  century),  and  in  ladies' 
society  the  most  fashionable  amusement  was 
Ombre,  immortalized  by  Pope's  Rape  of  the 
Lock  (1712),  in  a  manner  strongly  contrasted 
with  his  disparaging  mention  of  whist  a  year 
or  two  later. 

It  was  about  1730  when  the  new  game  rose 
out  of  its  obscurity  and  took  rapidly  the  rank 
due  to  its  great  merits.  At  that  time  the  ordi- 
naries, where  gambling  had  been  long  carried 
on  to  an  enormous  extent,  and  with  the  most 
scandalous  abuses,  began  to  be  superseded 
by  the  more  intellectual  meetings  at  taverns 
and  coffee-houses,  which  figure  so  prominently 
in  the  literary  annals  of  the  last  century.  It 
happened  that  a  party  of  gentlemen  who  fre- 
quented the  Crown  coffee-house  in  Bedford  Row, 
and  of  whom  the  first  Lord  Folkstone  was  one, 
had  become  acquainted  with  the  game,  and 
practised  it  at  their  meetings.  They  soon  found 
out  it  had  merits,  studied  it  carefully,  and  ar- 
rived, for  the  first  time,  at  some  fundamental 
rules  of  play. 


/iftoDern  'CClbist  19 


The  way  having  been  thus  prepared,  there 
was  wanting  a  man  of  genius  who  should 
further  work  out  the  elements  of  the  game,  and 
mould  it  into  a  permanent,  logical,  scientific 
form.  This  man  appeared  in  the  person  of 
Edmond  Hoyi,e.  There  is  very  little  trust- 
worthy information  as  to  his  antecedents.  He 
was  born  in  1672  :  it  is  said  he  studied  as  a  bar- 
rister, and  he  styles  himself  in  his  first  book  "  a 
gentleman."  It  is  clear  he  was  a  man  of  good 
education,  and  moved  in  good  society  ;  probably 
he  was  one  of  the  party  that  met  at  the  Crown. 

It  appears  that  he  had  studied  whist  for  many 
years  ;  and  he  saw,  not  only  that  it  had  great 
capabilities,  but  that  it  was  much  debased  by 
the  use  made  of  it  by  sharpers  for  cheating  inex- 
perienced players  out  of  their  money.  He 
believed  that  it  was  in  his  power  to  guard  the 
public  against  these  unprincipled  practices,  as 
well  as  to  excite  a  more  legitimate  interest  in 
the  game,  by  spreading  a  better  knowledge  of 
the  principles  on  which  it  should  be  played  ; 
and  to  attain  these  objects  he  resolved  to  teach 
it  professionally.     His  spirited  attempt  excited 


2() 


mbxQt  IRuggcts 


iiuicli  attention,  as  we  find  several  notices  of  it 

on  record.      In  the  Rambler  oi  May  8,  1750,  a 

lady  writes  : 

"As  for  play,  I  do  think  I  may,  indeed,  indulge  in 
that,  now  I  am  my  own  mistress.  Papa  made  me  drudge 
at  'vhist  till  I  was  tired  of  it ;  and,  far  from  wanting  a 
head,  Mr.  Hoyle,  when  he  had  not  given  me  above  torty 
lessons,  said  I  was  one  of  his  best  scholars  " 

In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  of  February, 
1755,  a  writer,  professing  to  give  the  autobi- 
ography of  a  fashionable  physician,  says  : 

"Hoyle  tutored  me  in  several  games  of  cards,  and, 
under  the  name  of  guarding  me  from  being  cheated, 
insensibly  gave  me  a  taste  for  sharping." 

In  the  course  of  this  instruction  he  sold  to  his 
pupils  a  set  of  notes  which  he  had  drawn  up, 
containing  rules  and  directions  for  their  guid- 
ance. These  were  in  manuscript,  and  he  charged 
a  guinea  for  each  copy.  The  novelty  and  greet 
value  of  the  rules  were  soon  discovered,  and 
surreptitious  copies  began  to  get  into  circula- 
tion, when  Mr.  Hoyle  to  secure  his  copyright, 
had  them  published. 

At  this  time  the  final  changes  had  been  made 
by  increasing  the  score  to  ten,  and  by  using  the 


/IRo^ern  Mbiet  21 


whole  pack,  thus  giving  thirteen  cards  to  each 
player.  This  latter  improvement  introduced 
the  odd  trick,  an  element  of  such  great  interest 
in  the  present  game.  Whether  it  was  Hoyle  or 
some  one  previously,  who  made  these  changes, 
is  not  clear  ;  but  at  any  rate  the  game,  as  he 
presents  it,  is  precisely  the  form  of  long  whist 
ever  since  played. 

His  book  had  a  great  and  rapid  success  ;  it 
went  through  several  editions  in  one  year,  and 
it  seems  to  have  been  again  pirated,  as  the 
author  found  it  necessary  to  certify  every 
genuine  copy  by  attaching  his  autograph  signa- 
ture, of  which  the  following,  taken  from  the 
thirteenth  edition  is  a  fac-simile. 

In  the  fifteenth  edition,  the  signature  was, 
for  the  first  time,  impressed  from  a  wood-block, 
and  in  the  seventeenth  it  was  announced  that, 
"  Mr.  Hoyle  was  dead."  The  great  man  departed 
this  life,  full  of  years  and  of  honors,  on  the  29th 
of  August,  1769. 


22  lUbist  1Ru99et5 


Byron's  ofL-quoted  parallel— 
•  Troy  owes  to  Homer  what  whist  owes  to  Hoyle," 

hardly  does  justice  to  our  author,  for  he  was 
far  more  than  the  historian  of  whist  ;  he  may, 
essentially,  be  considered  its  founder. 

The  effect  of  Hoyle's  promulgation  of  the 
game  in  its  improved  form  was  very  prompt, 
as  we  learn  from  a  witty  and  amusing  brochure 
that  appeared  in  the  same  year,  1743,  called 
The  Humours  of  Whist,  a  dramatic  Satire,  as 
acted  every  day  at  White's  and  other  Coffee- 
houses and  Assemblies.  It  is  a  short  comedy, 
the  principal  characters  being  Professor  Whiston 
(Hoyle),  who  gives  lessons  in  the  game  ;  Sir 
Calculation  Puzzle,  an  enthusiastic  player,  who 
nmddles  his  head  with  Hoyle's  calculations 
and  always  loses  ;  pupils,  sharpers,  and  their 
dupes.  The  object  ;s  chiefly  to  ridicule  the 
pretensions  of  Hoyle  and  the  enthusiasm  of  his 
followers,  and  to  show  that  skill  and  calcula- 
tion are  of  no  avail  against  bad  luck  or  pre- 
meditated fraud.  The  work  was  reprinted  ten 
years  later,  but  it  is  scarce,  and  we  may  give 


^o^ern  Mbist  23 


a  few  extracts  that  throw  light  on  the  circum- 
stances attending  the  first  introduction  of  the 
new  rules  of  the  game. 

Hoyle  had  given  out  that  he  had  spent  forty 
years  in  its  study,  and  the  prologue  says  : 

"  Who  will  believe  that  man  could  e'er  exist, 
Who  spent  near  half  an  age  in  studj-ing  whist  ? 
Grew  grey  with  calculation,  labour  hard. 
As  if  life's  business  center'd  in  a  card  ? 
That  such  there  is,  let  me  to  those  appeal 
Who  with  such  liberal  hands  reward  his  zeal. 
1,0  !  whist  he  makes  a  science,  and  our  peers 
Deign  to  turn  schoolboys  in  their  riper  years." 

Sir  Calculation  Puzzle  gives  some  amusing 
explanations  of  his  losses.  In  one  case  he 
says  : 

"  That  certainly  was  the  most  out-of-the-way  bite  ever 
was  heard  of.  Upon  the  pinch  of  the  game,  when  he 
must  infallibly  have  lost  it,  the  dog  ate  the  losing  card, 
by  which  means  we  dealt  again,  and  faith  he  won  the 
game." 

Again,  in  reference  to  Hoyle's  calculations 
of  chances  : 

"  We  were  nine  all.  The  adversary  had  three  and  we 
four  tricks.  All  the  trumps  were  out.  I  had  queen  and 
two  small  clubs,  with  the  lead.    Let  me  see  :  it  was  about 


24  TKIlbtst  IRugaets 


222  and  3  halves  to— 'gad,  I  forgot  how  many — that  my 
partner  had  the  ace  and  king  ;  ay,  that  he  had  not  both 
of  them,  17  to  2  ;  and  that  he  had  not  one,  or  both,  or 
neither,  some  25  to  32.  So  I,  according  to  the  judgment 
of  the  game,  led  a  club  ;  my  partner  takes  it  with  the 
king.  Then  it  was  exactly  481  for  us  to  222  for  them. 
He  returns  the  same  suit,  I  win  it  with  my  queen,  and 
return  it  again  ;  but  the  devil  take  that  L,urchum,by 
passing  his  ace  twice,  he  took  the  trick,  and,  having  two 
more  clubs  and  a  thirteenth  card,  egad,  all  was  over." 

The  praise  of  Hoyle's  book  by  its  supporters 
is  unbounded.     They  say  : 

"  There  never  was  so  excellent  a  book  printed.  I'm 
quite  in  raptures  with  it  ;  I  will  eat  with  it,  sleep  with  it, 
go  to  Parliament  with  it,  go  to  Church  with  it,  I  pro- 
nounce it  the  gospel  of  whist-plaj^ers.  I  want  words  to 
express  the  author,  and  can  look  on  him  in  no  other 
light  than  as  a  second  Newton.  I  have  joined  twelve 
companies  in  the  Mall,  and  eleven  of  them  were  talking 
of  it.  It's  the  subject  of  all  conversation,  and  has  had 
the  honour  to  be  introduced  into  the  Cabinet." 

The  wits,  howev^er,  did  not  neglect  to  poke 
fun  at  the  Professor  : 

''Beau.  Ha  !  ha  !  ha  !  I  shall  dye  !  Yonder  is  I^ord 
Finess  and  Sir  George  Tenace,  two  first-rate  players  ; 
they  have  been  most  lavishly  beat  by  a  couple  of  'pren- 
tices. Ha  !  ha  !  ha  !  They  came  slap  four  by  honours 
upon  them  almost  every  deal. 

"  Lord  Rally.  I  find,  Professor,  your  book  do's  not 
teach  how  to  beat  four  by  honours.     Ha  !  ha  !  ha  ! 


/IRoDern  mbist  25 


"  P?'q/essor  [aside].  Curse  them!  I'd  rather  have  given 
a  thousand  pounds  than  this  should  have  happen'd.  It 
strikes  at  the  reputation  of  my  Treatise. 

''  Lord  Rally.  In  my  opinion  there  is  still  something 
wanting  to  compleat  the  system  of  whist  :  and  that 
is  A  Dissertation  on  the  lyUcky  Chair.  [Company 
laugh.'] 

''Professor.  Ha!  ha!  ha!  your  I^ordship's  hint  is 
excellent.     I'm  obliged  to  you  for  it." 

Whist  advanced  rapidly  in  public  favor,  and 
evidence  is  on  record  of  the  time  when  it  was 
received  at  court  and  formally  acknowledged  as 
one  of  the  royal  amusements.  In  1720  a  little 
book  called  the  Court  Gamester  was,  as  its 
title-page  informs  us,  "  written  for  the  use  of 
the  3'oung  princesses,"  the  daughters  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  George  II.  It  was 
frequently  reprinted,  and  in  later  editions  a 
second  part  was  added,  called  the  City  Game- 
ster, containing  less  polite  games  used  east  of 
Temple  Bar.  Whist  was  included  in  the  latter 
category  up  to  the  seventh  edition  ;  but  in  the 
next,  dated  1754,  it  was  transferred  to  the  court 
division.  In  1758  it  had  become  a  fit  recreation 
for  University  dons,  as  in  No.  33  of  the  Idler, 
the   senior   fellow   of  a  college  at  Cambridge 


26  limbist  muaaets 


represents  himself  aud  his  party  as  "sitting  late 
at  whist  in  the  evening." 

When  whist  became  fashionable  it  was  nat- 
urally taken  up  by  polite  literature,  dry  rules 
and  laws  being  made  subservient  to  poetry  and 
imagination.  We  have  already  seen  how  it 
had  been  dramatized  ;  it  was  now  to  be  raised 
to  a  higher  grade  in  Parnassus,  by  becoming 
the  subject  of  an  epic.  In  1791  appeared 
Whist,  a  Poem,  in  12  Cantos,  by  Alexander 
Thomson,  Esq.  The  book  went  through  two 
editions,  and  made  great  pretensions  to  learn- 
ing, by  quotations  from  or  references  to  authors 
in  almost  every  language,  from  French  to  Per- 
sian, and  of  almost  every  age,  from  the  Patri- 
archs to  the  eighteenth  century  ;  but  the  poetry- 
was  feeble,  the  history  incorrect,  and  the  whist 
not  over  sound.  One  quotation,  of  the  con- 
cluding lines,  will  suffice  : 

"  Nor  do  I  yet  despair  to  see  the  day 
When  hostile  armies,  rang'd  in  neat  arraj', 
Instead  of  fighting,  shall  engage  in  play  ; 
When  peaceful  whist  the  quarrel  shall  decide, 
And  Christian  blood  be  spilt  on  neither  side. 
Then  pleas  no  more  should  wait  the  tardy  laws, 


^oDcrn  mbigt  27 

But  one  odd  trick  at  rnce  conclude  the  cause. 
(Tho'  some  will  saj'  that  this  is  nothing  new, 
For  here  there  have  been  long  odd  tricks  enow^. 
Then  Britain  still,  to  all  the  world's  surprise, 
In  this  great  science  shall  progressive  rise, 
Till  ages  hence,  when  all  of  each  degree 
Shall  play  the  game  as  well  as  Hoyle  or  me." 


One  of  the  chief  seats  of  whist-playing  during 
the  eighteenth  centurj^  was  the  city  of  Bath, 
where  Nash  and  other  celebrities  had  much 
encouraged  card-games  generally.  About  1800 
a  little  book  appeared  there,  entitled  Advice  to 
the  Yoictig  Whist  Player^  by  Thomas  Matthews, 
Esq.  This  was  a  sound  and  useful  work,  con- 
taining many  improvements,  resulting  from  the 
experience  of  half  a  century,  and  it  is,  even 
now,  worthy  of  attentive  study. 

About  the  same  date  an  important  change 
took  place,  namely,  the  introduction  of  "  Short 
Whist,"  by  altering  the  winning  score  from 
ten  to  five,  and  abolishing  the  "call"  for 
honors  when  wanting  two  of  game.  The 
change  is  said  to  have  originated  in  an  acci- 
dent :  Lord  Peterborough  having  one  night 
lost  a  large  sum  of  money,   the  friends  with 


28  Mbist  1Klugact0 

whom  he  was  playing  proposed  to  give  him  the 
revanche  at  five  points  instead  of  teu,  in  order 
to  afford  him  a  quicker  chance  of  recovering 
his  loss.  The  new  plan  was  found  so  lively 
that  it  soon  became  popular,  and  has  long  since 
superseded  long  whist  in  the  best  circles.  The 
reason  of  the  preference  is  not  diflScult  to  dis- 
cover. All  good  players  must  have  found  out 
how  the  interest  increased  towards  the  close 
of  the  long  game,  when  the  parties  w^ere  pretty 
even,  and  when  it  became  necessary  to  pay 
stricter  attention  to  the  score,  in  order  to  regu- 
late the  play.  Now  to  cause  this  state  of  things 
to  recur  more  frequently,  it  would  -be  sufficient 
to  play,  as  it  were,  the  latter  half  of  the  game 
without  the  former,  /.  <?.,  to  commence  with  both 
parties  at  the  score  of  Jive  ;  for  this  is  the  true 
sense  of  the  alteration. 

This  mode  of  viewdng  it  accounts  for  no 
change  being  made  in  the  value  of  the  honors. 
Some  authorities  think  the  scoring  for  these 
should  have  been  halved,  and,  no  doubt,  this 
would  have  given  more  effect  to  skill  in  play  ; 
but   such  a  change  would  have  rendered  the 


/IftoDern  Mbist.  29 


game  less  generally  interesting.  It  must  never 
be  forgotten  that  the  element  of  chance  is  one 
of  the  attractive  features  of  whist,  to  good 
players  as  well  as  to  mediocre  ones,  and  to 
tamper  with  the  present  arrangement  would 
probably  endanger  the  popularity  of  the  game. 
Whist  was  known  in  France  at  an  early 
period  by  translations  of  Hoyle.  It  was  played 
by  Ivouis  XV.,  and  under  the  Empire  was  a 
favorite  game  of  Josephine  and  Marie  Ivouise. 
After  the  Restoration  it  was  taken  up  more 
enthusiasticall3^  "  The  nobles,"  says  a  French 
writer,  "had  gone  to  England  to  learn  to 
think,  and  they  brought  back  the  thinking 
game  with  them."  Talleyrand  w^as  the  great 
player  of  the  day,  and  his  mot — "You  do  not 
know  whist,  young  man  ?  What  a  sad  old  age 
you  are  preparing  for  yourself  !  " — is  a  standing 
quotation  in  all  whist  books.  Charles  X.  was 
playing  whist  at  St.  Cloud  on  the  29th  of  July, 
1830,  when  the  tricolor  was  waving  on  the 
Tuileries,  and  he  had  lost  his  throne.  His 
successor,  Louis  Philippe,  when  similarly  en- 
gaged, had  to  submit  to  an  elegant  insolence. 


30  "OQlbist  Buaaets 

He  had  dropped  a  louis,  and  stopped  the  game 
to  look  for  it,  when  a  foreign  ambassador,  one 
of  the  party,  set  fire  to  a  billet  of  i,ooo  francs 
to  give  light  to  the  King  under  the  table. 

In  1839  appeared  a  Trait e  du  Uliiste,  by  M. 
Deschapelles,  whom  Mr.  Clay  calls  "  the  finest 
whist  player,  beyond  any  comparison,  the 
world  has  ever  seen."  Much  was  to  be  ex- 
pected from  such  a  quarter,  but  the  publication 
was  but  a  fragment  of  a  larger  work  that  never 
appeared.  The  author  treats  of  whist  in  a 
manner  highly  spirituel.  He  reasons  on  im- 
mensity and  eternity,  on  metaphysical  necessity 
and  trial  by  jury  ;  he  invokes  the  sun  of  Joshua 
and  the  star  of  the  Magi ;  he  investigates  the 
electrical  afl&nities  of  the  players,  and  illustrates 
a  hand  by  analytical  geometry.  He  died  some 
fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago. 

The  latest  stage  in  the  history-  of  whist  com- 
prises the  more  modem  determination  and 
consolidation  of  its  scientific  constitution,  both 
theoretical  and  practical. 

This  important  step  was  brought  about  by  a 
circumstance  somewhat  similar  to  that  which 


gave  rise  to  the  first  development  of  the  game  by 
Hoyle,  a  century  and  a  quarter  before.  Between 
1850  and  i860  a  knot  of  young  men  at  Cam- 
bridge, of  considerable  ability,  who  had  at  first 
taken  up  whist  for  amusement,  found  it  offer 
such  a  field  for  intellectual  study,  that  they 
continued  its  practice  more  systematically,  with 
a  view  to  its  complete  scientific  investigation. 
vSince  the  general  adoption  of  short  whist  the 
constant  practice  of  adepts  had  led  to  the  intro- 
duction of  many  improvements  in  detail,  but 
nothing  had  been  done  to  reduce  the  modern 
play  into  a  systematic  form,  or  to  lay  it  clearly 
before  the  public  ;  its  secrets,  so  far  as  they 
differed  from  the  precepts  of  Hoyle  and  Mat- 
thews, were  confined  to  small  coteries  of  club 
players.  The  little  whist  school  held  together 
afterwards  in  London,  and  added  to  its  num- 
bers ;  and  in  1862  one  of  its  members  brought 
out  the  work  published  under  the  name  of 
"Cavendish,"  the  principal  object  of  which  was 
to  illustrate  the  modern  play  by  a  set  of  model 
games,  after  the  manner  of  those  so  much  used 
at  chess.     Two  years  afterwards  appeared  the 


32  "Uabiet  IRu^acttt 

essav  of  Mr.  Clay,  aud  a  little  later  that  of  Dr. 
Pole. 

Each  of  these  publications  is  distinct  in  its 
object.  The  work  of  Dr.  Pole  expounds  the 
fundamental  theor\-  on  which  the  modern 
game  is  based  ;  that  of  Cavendish  gives  detailed 
rules  for,  and  examples  of,  its  application  in 
practice  ;  and  that  of  Mr.  Clay  is  an  able  dis- 
sertation on  the  more  rehned  points  of  the  best 
modern  play,  by  the  best  modem  player. 
Taken  together,  these  books  (which  ought  to 
be  combined  in  one  volume)  furnish  a  complete 
epitome  of  the  game,  presenting  it  both  theo- 
retically and  practically  in  the  perfect  state  at 
which  it  has  now  arrived,  by  continued  study 
and  practice  during  the  two  centuries  that  have 
elapsed  since  it  first  assumed  a  definite  shape 
and  took  its  present  name. 

Loudon  Quarterly  Review. 


WHIST  AND  WHIST-PI.AYERS. 

T^HE  laws  of  whist,  like  those  of  Nature  before 
*  Newton,  lay  hid  in  night,  at  all  events  were 
involved  in  most  perplexing  confusion  and  un- 
certainty, when  the  happy  thought  of  fixing, 
defining,  arranging  and  (so  to  speak)  codifying 
them,  occurred  to  a  gentleman  possessing  the 
requisite  amount  of  knowledge  and  experience, 
and  admirably  qualified  by  social  position  for 
the  task.  "Some  years  ago,"  writes  Mr.  Bald- 
win in  May,  1864,  "  I  suggested  to  the  late  Hon. 
George  Anson  (one  of  the  most  accomplished 
whist-players  of  his  day)  that,  as  the  supremacy 
of  short  whist  was  an  acknowledged  fact,  a  re- 
vision and  reformation  of  Hoyle's  rules  would 
confer  a  boon  on  whist-players  generally,  and 
on  those  especially  to  whom  disputes  and 
3  33 


34  mbiet  n\XQQCl& 


(loublful  points  were  constantly  referred.  Our 
views  coincided,  but  the  project  was,  for  the 
following  reason,  abandoned." 

The  reason  was  neither  more  nor  less  than 
what  has  stopped  or  indefinitely  postponed  so 
many  other  projects  for  the  amelioration  of 
society  or  improvement  of  mankind,  namely, 
the  difficulty  and  trouble  to  be  encountered, 
with  a  ver)^  uncertain  chance  of  success.  This 
reason  was  eventually  outweighed  by  the  sense 
of  responsibility  in  the  face  of  a  steadily  in- 
creasing evil  which  a  decided  effort  might  cor- 
rect ;  and  early  in  1863  the  legislator  of  the 
whist-table  had  duly  meditated  his  scheme  and 
made  up  his  mind  as  to  the  right  method  of 
executing  it.  When  Napoleon  had  resolved 
upon  a  code,  he  began  by  nominating  a  board 
of  the  most  eminent  French  jurists,  whose  sit- 
tings he  was  in  the  constant  habit  of  attending, 
and  by  whom  it  was,  article  by  article,  settled  and 
discussed.  Mr.  Baldwin  proceeded  in  much  the 
same  fashion.  The  board  or  committee  which 
met  at  his  suggestion,  or  (as  he  says)  "kindly  con- 
sented to  co-operate  with  him,"  was  comprised 


TlClbist  auD  WibisU^lavcve         35 

of  seven  members  of  the  Arlington  Club,  who — 
we  might  take  for  granted,  w^ere  it  not  notorious 
as  a  fact — were  renowned  for  the  skilful  practice 
as  well  as  the  scientific  knowledge  of  the  game. 
The  foundation  of  the  republic  of  Venice 
maybe  dated  from  697  a.d.,  when  tw^elveof  the 
founders  met  and  elected  the  first  Doge.  Their 
descendants,  g-/t  Elcttorali,  formed  the  first 
class  of  the  aristocracy,  and  with  them  were 
subsequentl}'  associated  the  descendants  of  the 
four  w^ho  joined  in  signing  an  instrument  for 
the  foundation  of  the  Abbey  of  San  Giorgio 
Maggiore.  The  twelve  were  popularly  spoken 
of  as  the  Twelve  Apostles,  and  the  four  as  the 
Four  Evangelists.  The  foundation  of  the  re- 
public of  whist  may  be  dated  from  its  reduction 
under  settled  laws  ;  and  precedence  such  as  was 
accorded  to  the  Venetian  Apostles  and  Evan- 
gelists should  be  accorded  to  the  two  bodies  of 
gentlemen  by  whom  Mr.  Baldwin's  suggestions 
were  so  effectively  carried  out.  The  seven 
members  of  the  Arlington  (who  may  rank  with 
the  Apostles)  were  : — George  Bentinck,  Esq., 
late  M.  P.  for  West  Norfolk  ;  John  Bushe,  Esq, 


36  TlClbist  IRuaaets 


(sonof  the  Chief  Justice  in  "  Patronage");  John 
Clay,  Esq.,  M.  P.,  who  acted  as  chairman  ;  the  late 
Charles  C.  Greville,  Esq.  ;  Sir  Rainald  Knight- 
ley,  Bart.,  :\r.  P.  ;  H.  B.  Mayne,  Esq.  ;  G.  Payne, 
Ksq.  ;  Colonel  Pipon.  The  Resolution  appoint- 
ing them  is  authenticated  by  the  distinguished 
signature  of  Admiral  Rous.  The  code  drawn 
up  by  them  was  transmitted  to  the  Portland 
Club,  the  whist-club  par  Eminence  since  the 
dissolution  of  Graham's,  w^hich  nominated  the 
following  committee  (who  may  rank  with  the 
Evangelists  of  Venice)  to  consider  it : — H.  D. 
Jones,  Esq.  (the  father  of  "Cavendish"),  chair- 
man ;  Charles  Adams,  Esq.  ;  W.  F.  Baring, 
Esq.  ;  H.  Fitzroy,  Esq.  ;  Samuel  Petrie,  Esq.  ; 
II.  M.  Riddell.  Esq.  ;  R.  Wheble,  Esq.  Their 
suggestions  and  additions  were  immediately  ac- 
cepted by  the  Arlington,  and  on  Saturday,  April 
30,  1864, — it  is  right  to  be  particular — this  reso- 
lution was  proposed  and  carried  unanimously  : 

"  Arllngton  Club. 
' '  That  the  Laws  of  Short  Whist  as  framed bj'  the  Whist 
Committee,  and  edited  by  John  I^oraine  Baldwin ,  Esq.,  be 
adopted  by  this  Club. 

"(Signed)     Beaufort,  Chairman." 


Wibi6t  auD  mblstspla^erg         37 

So  soon  as  this  resolution  was  passed,  the 
work  was  done  ;  for  all  the  other  principal 
clubs  in  town  and  country  eagerly  notified  their 
adhesion,  and  it  would  be  simply  absurd  for 
individuals  to  refuse  obedience.  That  the 
Continent  and  the  New  World  will  do  well  to 
follow  the  lead  of  England,  may  be  inferred 
from  a  single  point  of  comparison.  Mr.  Bald- 
win's Lazi'S  of  IVJiist  are  comprised  in  sixteen 
pages,  whereas  two  hundred  and  eighty-four 
pages  of  M.  Deschapelles'  Tvaite  du  Whist 
are  devoted  to  the  laws.  Nor  is  the  code  the 
only  boon  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  the 
codifier.  He  has  also  been  the  means  of  elicit- 
ing what  (when  it  was  first  published)  was 
incomparably  the  acutest,  most  compact,  and 
most  practical  essay  on  the  subject,  A  Treatise 
on  the  Game,  by  J.  C.  ( John  Clay).  It  was 
preceded  by  several  works  of  merit,  but  its 
improving  effects  may  be  traced  in  all  recent 
editions  of  the  best ;  and  we  have  now  a  litera- 
ture of  whist  which  leaves  the  habitually  bad 
player,  male  or  female,  without  the  semblance 
of  an   apology. 


38  mbfst  mucjciets 


Although  the  large  circulation  of  these  books 
would  imply  general  study  and  corresponding 
advance,  the  effect  has  been  disappointing  upon 
llic  whole.  It  is  quite  curious  to  see  how  many 
who  have  made  whist  their  favorite  occupation 
never  rise  to  the  rank  of  third-rate  players  ;  how 
many  are  utterly  ignorant  of  the  plainest  prin- 
ciples, and  unprepared  for  the  most  ordinary 
combinations  or  contingencies ;  how  many  are 
almost  always  in  hopeless  confusion  about  their 
leads  ;  how  many  have  not  the  smallest  notion 
why  and  when  the}'  should  trump  a  doubtful 
card,  or  why  and  when  they  should  lead  trumps. 
The  Italian  who  had  the  honor  of  teaching 
George  III.  the  violin,  on  being  asked  by  his 
royal  pupil  what  progress  he  was  making,  ob- 
served, ''Please  your  Majesty,  there  are  three 
classes  of  players  :  i.  Those  who  cannot  play 
at  all.  2.  Those  who  play  badh*.  3.  Those 
who  play  well.  Your  Majesty  is  just  rising  into 
the  second  class."  This  is  the  outside  compli- 
ment we  could  pay  to  a  numerous  section  of 
assiduous  whist-players.  Yet,  as  Lord  Chester- 
field told  his  son,  whatever   is  worth  doing  at 


mbiet  anD  mbist^iplasera         39 

all  is  worth  doing  well ;  and  one  would  have 
thought  that  a  few  hours'  study  might  be  ad- 
vantageously bestowed  in  escaping  this  con- 
stantly recurring  condition  of  embarrassment, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  annoyance  which  may  be 
lead  in  the  partner's  face,  however  indulgent 
or  well  bred,  when  he  or  she  happens  to  know 
something  of  the  game. 

This  want  of  proper  grounding  and  training, 
fai  from  being  confined  to  the  idle  and  superfi- 
cial^ is  frequently  detected  or  avowed  in  the 
higier  orders  of  intellect,  in  the  most  acute, 
acc«mplished,  and  cultivated  minds.  ' '  I^ady 
Donegal  and  I,"  writes  Miss  Berry,  "played 
whis  with  Irord  Ellenborough  and  Ivord  Erskine. 
I  dou\t  which  of  the  four  plays  worst."  I^ord 
Thurkw  declared  late  in  life  that  he  would 
give  hff  his  fortune  to  play  well.  Why  did  he 
not  set  about  it?  Lord  Ivyndhurst  and  Lord 
Wensle^ale  were  on  a  par  with  Lord  Ellen- 
boroughand  Lord  Erskine,  yet  they  were  both 
very  foU'  of  the  game,  and  both  would  eagerly 
have  conirmed  the  justice  of  Talleyrand's  well- 
known   rmark   to  the  youngster   who   rather 


40  mbiSt  mXQQCtS 


boastingly  declared  his  ignorance  of  it :  "  Quelle 
tristc  vieillcsse  vous  vous  preparez  /  "  *  It  is  an 
invaluable  resource  to  men  of  studious  habits, 
whose  eyes  and  mental  faculties  equally  require 
relief  in  the  evening  of  life  or  after  the  grave 
labors  of  the  day  ;  and  the  interest  rises  with 
the  growing  consciousness  of  skill. 

The  main  cause  of  this  educational  omission  or 
neglect  is  the  rooted  belief  that  whist  cannot 
be  taught  by  study  or  reading,  which  is  prety 
nearly  tantamount  to  saying  that  it  cannot  oe 
taught  at  all ;  for  there  was  no  reason  wh3  a 
sound  precept,  orall}-  communicated  at  a  card- 
table  should  be  less  sound  and  useful  wien 
printed  in  a  book.  Moreover,  the  book  has 
one  marked  advantage  over  the  oral  instructor  : 
it  gives  time  for  reflection,  and  does  no'  give 
occasion  for  irritability.  We  have  no  ejbmen- 
tary  schools  of  whist  nor  paid  teacher/  as  in 

*  To  Talleyrand  at  the  whist-table  might  bejapplied. 
with  the  change  of  a  word,  the  couplet  of  Popa 

"  See  how  the  world  its  veterans  rewais, 
A  youth  of  plotting,  an  old  age  of  card." 

Talleyrand  was  far  from  a  good  player,  andas  might 
have  been  anticipated,  unduly  prone  to  finding  and 
false  cards. 


mbiet  anO  mblstsHMagers         41 


billiards ;  and  a  competent  amateur,  when 
taking  his  place  opposite  a  lady  partner,  is 
almost  invariably  addressed  :  "  Now  pray  don't 
scold  ;  I  can't  bear  scolding."  In  other  words  : 
"  I  can't  bear  to  be  taught."  Even  when  a  lady 
requests  to  be  told  if  she  plays  wrong,  the  odds 
are  that,  unless  she  is  resolutely  bent  on  fasci- 
nating, she  will  turn  upon  you,  if  you  are 
simple  enough  to  take  her  at  her  word,  like 
the  matron  in  Cceleds  who  was  lamenting  her 
own  exceeding  sinfulness  : 

"Mr.  Ranby  :  You  accuse  yourself  too  heavily,  my 
dear  ;  you  have  sins  to  be  sure. 

"  Mrs.  Ranby  (in  a  raised  voice  and  angry  tone) :  And 
pray  what  sins  have  I,  Mr.  Ranby  ?  " 

A  critical  remark  to  a  male  partner,  or  an 
attempt  to  talk  over  the  hand,  is  frequently 
met  in  a  manner  that  does  not  invite  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  experiment,  although  a  polite  in- 
quiry why  a  particular  card  was  played  is  an 
implied  compliment.  Mr.  Clay  speaks  with 
his  characteristic  good  sense  on  this  topic  : 

"  Talking  over  the  hand  after  it  has  been  played  is  not 
uncommonly  called  a  bad  habit,  and  an  annoyance.  I 
am  firmly  persuaded  that  it  is  among  the  readiest  ways 


42  mbist  nwQQCte 


of  learning  whist,  and  I  advise  beginners,  when  they 
have  not  understood  their  partner's  play,  or  when  they 
think  that  the  hand  might  have  been  differently  played 
with  a  better  result,  to  ask  for  information,  and  inx-ite 
discussion.  They  will,  of  course,  select  for  this  purpose 
;i  player  of  recognised  skill,  and  will  have  little  diffi- 
culty in  distinguishing  the  dispassionate  and  reasoning 
man  from  him  who  judges  by  results,  and  finds  fault 
only  because  things  have  gone  wrong.  They  will  rarely 
find  a  real  whist-player  so  discourteous  as  to  refuse 
ever\'  information  in  his  power,  for  he  takes  interest  in 
the  beginner  who  is  anxious  to  improve." 

But  real  whist-players  will  rarely  take  suffi- 
cient interest  in  beginners,  however  anxious  to 
improve,  to  be  willing  to  cut  in  with  them 
before  a  certain  amount  of  progress  has  been 
made;  and  a  request  for  information,  betraying 
a  want  of  elementary  knowledge  might  provoke 
an  answer  like  Dr.  Johnson's  to  the  young 
gentleman  who  asked  him  whether  the  cat  was 
oviparous  or  \d\iparous  :  "  Sir,  you  should  read 
the  common  books  of  natural  histor)-,  and  not 
come  to  a  man  of  a  certain  age  and  some 
attainments  to  ask  whether  the  cat  lays  eggs." 
With  reference,  also,  to  your  own  immediate 
interest,  you  had  better  hold  your  tongue,  or 
reserve    your    comments    till    the    party    has 


mbfst  anD  mbiet^iplascrs         43 


broken  up ;  for  the  offender  will  immediately 
play  worse. 

Books,  therefore,  are  the  readiest  and  surest 
sources  of  instruction,  but  to  begin  with  books 
would  be  as  absurd  as  the  practice  of  teaching 
Latin  and  Greek  through  the  medium  of  a  Latin 
grammar.  It  is  now  admitted  that  the  Hamil- 
tonian  method  of  learning  languages  is  the  best. 
Acquire  a  sufficient  stock  of  words  before 
meddling  with  syntax.  Just  so,  familiarize 
yourself  with  the  ordinary  combinations  of 
the  cards  before  venturing  on  the  rules  and 
principles  which  constitute  the  syntax  of  the 
game.  But  in  each  case  the  syntax  is  indis- 
pensable, when  the  appropriate  stage  of  pro- 
gress has  been  reached  ;  and  the  whist-player 
who  endeavors  to  dispense  with  it,  unless 
he  is  singularly  gifted,  will  bear  the  same 
relation  to  one  of  the  master  spirits  of  the 
Portland,  the  Arlington,  or  the  Paris  Jockey 
Club,  that  a  courier  or  quick-witted  lady's 
maid  who  had  made  the  tour  of  Europe, 
would  bear  in  linguistic  acquirements  to  the 
trained    diplomatist    who    speaks    and    writes 


44  'Uabiet  1ftu00Ct6 


I-reiich,  CTcrinaii,  and  Italian  with  correctness 
aiul  facility. 

It  is  the  same  in  all  things  to  which  mind 
can  be  applied;  theor>'  or  science  should  go 
hantl  in  hand  with  practice.  This  is  true  even 
of  games  of  manual  dexterity,  like  billiards  and 
croquet,  but  it  is  pre-eminently  true  of  whist. 
Nay,  we  shall  show  before  concluding  that  the 
mere  mechanical  quality  of  memory  has  far  less 
to  do  with  nuiking  a  fine  or  even  a  good  player, 
than  the  higher  qualities  of  judgment,  observa- 
tion, logical  intuition,  and  sagacity. 

The  introduction  of  short  whist  is  thus  de- 
.scribed  by  IMr.  Clay  : 

"  Some  eighty  ^-ears  back,  L,ord  Peterborough  having 
one  night  lost  a  large  sum  of  money,  the  friends  with 
whom  he  was  playing  proposed  to  make  the  game  five 
points  instead  often,  in  order  to  give  the  loser  a  chance, 
at  a  quicker  game,  of  recovering  his  loss.  The  late  Mr. 
Hoarc,  of  Bath,  a  very  good  whist-player,  and  without  a 
superior  at  piquet,  was  one  of  this  party,  and  has  more 
than  once  told  me  the  story." 

Major  .\.  writing  in  1835,  says  :  "Short  whist 
started  up  and  overthrew  the  ancient  Long 
Dynasty  more  than  half  a  century  ago,"  thus 
confirming  Mr.  Clay   as  to  the  date  ;  but  if  it 


IKIlbist  anO  mbigt^ipla^ers         45 

started  up  in  the  eighteenth  century,  its  suprem- 
acy was  not  established  till  far  into  the  nine- 
teenth, and  many  whist-players  now  living 
imbibed  their  rudiments  under  the  ancient 
Long  Dynasty. 

An  illustration  in  the  Anti-Jacobi7i  of  1798, 
goes  far  to  prove  that  long  whist  alone  w^as 
present  to  the  minds  of  the  distinguished  writers, 
Mr.  Canning  and  Mr.  Frere  : 

"  of  whist  or  cribbage  mark  th'  amusing  game, 
The  partners  changing,  but  the  sport  the  same  ; 

Else  would  the  gamester's  anxious  ardour  cool. 
Dull  ever>'  deal,  and  stagnant  every  pool. 

— Yet  must  ojie  Man,  with  one  unceasing  Wife, 
Play  the  Long  Rubber  of  connubial  life."* 

These  high  authorities  differ  as  to  the  origin. 
"  This  revolution,"  continues  Major  A.,  "was 
occasioned  by  a  w'orthy  Welsh  baronet  prefer- 
ring his  lobster  for  supper  hot.     Four  first-rate 

*The  Progress  of  Man,  a  parody  on  Mr.  Payne  Knight's 
Progress  of  Civil  Society,  xn  which  a  markeci  preference 
is  given  to  the  connubial  rites  or  ceremonies  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands  over  those  of  Great  Britain.  This  is 
alluded  to  in  the  preceding  lines  of  the  parody  : 

"Learn  hence,  eachnymph,  whose  free  aspiring  mind, 
Europe's  cold  laws  an'd  colder  customs  bind— 
Oh  !  learn  what  Nature's  genial  laws  decree, 
What  Otaheite  is,  let  Britain  be." 


46  "Cabist  "Hu^ticts 

whist-players — consequently,  four  great  men — 
adjourned  from  the  House  of  Commons  to 
Brookes's.  and  proposed  a  rubber  while  the 
cook  was  busy.  'The  lobster  must  be  hot,' 
said  the  baronet.  *  A  rubber  may  last  an  hour, ' 
said  another,  'and  the  lobster  be  cold  again. 
or  spoiled,  before  we  have  finished. '  '  It  is 
too  long,'  said  a  third.  'Let  us  cut  it  shorter,' 
said  a  fourth. — Carried,  nem.  con.  Down  they 
sat,  and  found  it  very  lively  to  win  or  lose  so 
much  quicker.  Besides  furnishing  conversation 
at  supper,  the  thing  was  new — the}'  were  legis- 
lators, and  had  a  fine  opportunity  to  exercise 
their  calling." 

Next  day  ^he  says)  St.  James'  Street  was  in 
commotion  :  the  Longs  and  Shorts  contended 
like  the  Blues  and  Greens  of  the  circus  :  and 
for  a  period  it  was  regarded  as  a  drawn  battle  or 
a  tolerably  equal  contest  ;  but  the  old  school 
became  gradually  weaker  by  deaths,  and  the 
new  school,  when  no  longer  confronted  by 
habit  and  prejudice,  obtained  a  complete  \\c- 
tory.  The  truth  is,  the  new  game  is  the  better 
of  the  two,  as  requiring  more  sustained  atten- 


tion,  more  rapidity  of  conception,  more  dash, 
more  e/afi,  and  giving  more  scope  to  genius 
than  the  old.      It  is  the  Napoleonic  strategy  or 

tactics  against  the  Austrian  ;  or  (to  borrow  an 
illustration  from  naval  warfare)  it  may  be  com- 
pared to  Nelson's  favorite  manceuvre  of  "break- 
ing the  line."  Those  who  maintain  the  con- 
trary-, must  maintain  that  the  second  half  of  the 
old  game  (when  it  stood  five  to  five)  was  less  crit- 
ical and  less  calculated  for  the  display  of  skill 
than  the  first.  At  all  events  the  popular  decree 
is  irrevocable,  and  the  revolution  has  been  ren- 
dered more  complete  by  circumstances  which 
are  appositely  stated  by  INIr.  Clay  : 

■'  I  remember,  as  a  young'ster.  being  told  bj-  one  of  the 
highest  authorities,  on  the  occasion  of  mj-  having  led  a 
single  tmmp  from  a  hand  of  great  strength  in  all  the 
other  suits,  that  the  onlj-  justification  for  leading  a 
singleton  in  trumps  was  the  holding  at  least  ace  and 
king  in  the  three  remaining  suits.  He  spoke  the  opin- 
ion of  his  school.  That  school,  I  am  inclined  to  believe, 
might  teach  us  much  that  we  have  neglected,  but  I 
should  pick  out  of  it  one  man  alone,  the  celebrated 
Major  Aubrey,  as  likely  to  be  very  formidable  among 
the  best  players  of  the  present  day.  He  was  a  player  of 
g^eat  original  genius,  and  refused  strict  adherence  to 
the  over  careful  system,  to  which  his  companions  were 
slaves. 


4S  Wbist  1Flu9get6 

"But  whist  had  travelled,  and  thirty  or  more  years 
ago  we  began  to  hear  of  the  great  Paris  whist-players. 
They  sometimes  came  among  us— more  frequently  our 
champions  encountered  them  on  their  own  ground,  and 
returned  to  us  with  a  system  modified,  if  not  improved, 
by  their  French  experience.  .  .  .  We  were  forced  to 
recognize  a  wide  difference  between  their  system  and 
our  own,  and  '  the  French  game  '  became  the  scorn  and 
the  horror  of  the  old  school,  which  went  gradually  to  its 
grave,  with  an  unchanged  faith,  and  in  the  firm  belief 
that  the  invaders,  with  their  rash  trump  leading,  were 
all  mad,  and  that  their  great  master,  Deschapelles — the 
finest  whist-player  beyond  any  comparison  the  world 
has  ever  seen — was  a  dangerous  lunatic.  The  new 
school,  however,  as  I  well  remember,  were  found  to  be 
winning  players." 

Now  what  are  the  distinctive  features  of  the 
new  school,  its  essential  principles,  its  merits, 
and  its  defects?  Unluckily,  the  great  master, 
Deschapelles,  did  not  live  to  carry  out  his  origi- 
nal plan.  He  has  left  only  a  single  chapter  on 
La  Doctrine,  entitled,  De  V Impasse  (Of  the 
Finesse).  But  his  mantle  has  fallen  on  no 
unworthy  successors,  and  little  difficulty  will 
be  experienced  in  rendering  his  system  intel- 
ligible to  those  who  care  to  master  it,  for 
it  is  substantially  that  which  all  the  best 
players  in  both  hemispheres  have  adopted  and 
recommend : 


•QBlbfst  anD  WibisUt^l^^cve         49 


"  The  basis  of  the  theory  of  the  modern  scientific  game 
of  whist  [says  Professor  Pole]  lies  in  the  relations  exist- 
ing between  the  players. 

"It  is  a  fundamental  feature  of  the  construction  of  the 
game,  that  the  four  players  are  intended  to  act,  not 
singly  and  independently,  but  in  a  double  combination, 
two  of  them  being  pari?iers  against  a  partnership  of  the 
other  two.  And  it  is  the  full  recognition  of  this  fact, 
carried  out  into  all  the  ramifications  of  the  play,  which 
characterizes  the  scientific  game,  and  gives  it  its  supe- 
riority over  all  others. 

"  Yet,  obvious  as  this  fact  is,  it  is  astonishing  how  im- 
perfectly it  is  appreciated  among  players  generally. 
Some  ignore  the  partnership  altogether,  except  in  the 
mere  division  of  the  stakes,  neither  caring  to  help  their 
partners  or  be  helped  by  them,  but  playing  as  if  each 
had  to  fight  his  battle  alone.  Others  will  go  farther, 
giving  some  degree  of  consideration  to  the  partner,  but 
still  always  making  their  own  hand  the  chief  object ; 
and  among  this  latter  class  are  often  found  players  of 
much  skill  and  judgment,  and  who  pass  for  great  adepts 
in  the  game." 

The  combined  principle  was  not  ignored,  it 

was   simply   undervalued,  by    the   old   school. 

What  they  failed  to  see,  and  what  many  modern 

players  cannot  be  brought  to  see  yet,  is  that, 

with   tolerably  equal  cards,   the  result  of  the 

mimic  campaign  hangs  upon  it,  as  the  fate  of 

Germany    hung    on    the    junction    of    Prince 

Charles  and  the  Crown  Prince  at  Sadowa,  or 

the  fate  of  Europe  on  the  junction  of  Blucher 

4 


50  Wbist  IRuQ^etg 

and  Wellington  at  Waterloo.  Of  course  it  is 
necessary  to  agree  upon  a  common  object  or 
sj^stem,  and  this  again  is  placed  in  the  clearest 
light  by  Professor  Pole  : 

"  The  object  of  play  is  of  course  to  make  tricks,  and 
tricks  may  be  made  in  four  different  ways,  viz.: 

"  I.  By  the  natural  predominance  of  master  cards,  as 
aces  and  kings.  This  forms  the  leading  idea  of  begin- 
ners, whose  notions  of  trick-making  do  not  usually 
extend  beyond  the  high  cards  they  have  happened  to 
receive. 

"  2.  Tricks  may  be  also  made  by  taking  advantage  of 
Xh&  position  of  the  cards,  so  as  to  evade  the  higher  ones, 
and  niake  smaller  ones  win  :  as,  for  example,  in  finess- 
ing, and  in  leading  up  to  a  weak  suit.  This  method  is 
one  which,  although  always  kept  well  in  \T[ew  by  good 
players,  is  yet  only  of  accidental  occurrence,  and  there- 
fore does  not  enter  into  our  present  discussion  of  the 
general  systems  of  treating  the  hand. 

"  3.  Another  mode  of  trick-making  is  hy  trumping  ; 
a  system  almost  as  fascinating  to  beginners  as  the  reali- 
zation of  master  cards  ;  but  the  correction  of  this  predi- 
lection requires  much  deeper  study. 

"  4.  The  fourth  method  of  making  tricks  is  by 
establishing  and  bringing  in  a  long  suit,  every  card  of 
which  will  then  make  a  trick,  whatever  be  its  value. 
This  method,  though  the  most  scientific,  is  the  least 
obvious,  and  therefore  is  the  least  practised  by  young 
players. 

' '  Now  the  first,  third,  and  fourth  methods  of  making 
tricks,  may  be  said  to  constitute  different  systems,  accord- 
ing to  either  of  which  a  player  may  view  his  hand  and 
regulate  his  play." 


"must  anD  mbiet^lpla^ers         51 

This  is  illustrated  by  an  example.  The  hand 
of  the  player  with  whom  the  opening  lead  lies 
is  thus  composed  :  Hearfs  (trumps),  queen, 
nine,  six,  three.  Spades,  king,  knave,  eight, 
four,  three,  two.  /diamonds,  ace,  king.  Clubs, 
a  singleton.  He  may  lead  off  the  ace  and  king 
of  diamonds  (System  No.  i),  or  the  singleton 
in  the  hope  of  a  ruff  (No.  3),  or  the  smallest  of 
his  long  suit  (No.  4))  on  the  chance  of  establish- 
ing it  and  making  three  or  four  tricks  in  it.  In 
other  words,  he  has  to  choose  between  the  three 
systems  ;  and  the  paramount  importance  of  the 
choice  consists  in  its  deciding  the  opening  lead, 
by  far  the  most  important  of  the  whole ;  as  it 
is  the  first  indication  afforded  to  the  partner. 
"  He  will,  if  he  is  a  good  player,  observe  with 
great  attention  the  card  you  lead,  and  will  at 
once  draw  inferences  from  it  that  may  perhaps 
influence  the  whole  of  his  plans." 

When  the  highest  authorities,  on  the  most 
careful  calculation  of  chances,  have  laid  down 
that  the  long-suit  system  is  the  best,  and  the 
long-suit  opening  has  become  the  received 
method  of  carrying  it  out,  a  player  who  takes 


52  mbist  mugsets 

his  own  line,  or  looks  exclusively  to  his  own 
hand,  will  wilfulh'  commit  what  Mr.  Clay- 
justly  calls  "  the  greatest  fault  he  knows  in  a 
whist-player. ' '  All  that  can  be  said  in  favor  of 
the  rival  systems  has  been  said  a  hundred  times 
and  deliberately  set  aside,  but  the  strongest  of 
all  objections  to  each  of  them  is,  that  neither 
admits  of  combined  action,  in  fact,  can  hardly 
be  called  a  system  at  all  ;  for  when  you  have 
led  off  your  ace  and  king,  you  are  at  a  stand- 
still, and  when  you  have  led  your  singleton, 
you  have  probably  embarrassed  instead  of  in- 
forming your  partner  ;  and  it  is  fortunate  if 
you  have  not  led  him  into  a  scrape.  Besides, 
you  may  have  no  ace  and  king,  and  no  single- 
ton ;  whereas  you  must  always  have  what  (com- 
paratively speaking)  may  be  called  your  strong 
suit,  if  only  consisting  of  four. 

Players  who  find  an  irresistible  fascination  in 
leading  their  best  cards,  or  in  trumping,  may 
also  take  comfort  in  the  reflection  that  they  are 
not  requested  to  abandon  their  favorite  tactics 
altogether  ;  for  occasions  are  constantly  arising 
when  it  becomes  advisable  to  fall  back  upon 


1KIlbi6t  ant)  TDdbist^iplaisers         53 

them  ;  just  as  the  most  consumm.ate  general 
may  be  compelled  to  resort  to  defensive  or 
guerilla  warfare,  when  he  is  too  weak  to  hazard 
a  pitched  battle  or  a  siege  in  form.  It  can 
hardly  ever  be  right  to  lead  off  an  ace  and  king 
with  no  other  of  the  suit,  for  they  are  almost 
sure  of  making  at  a  more  opportune  period  of 
the  game.  But  when  held  with  others  in  an 
otherwise  weak  hand,  i.  e.,  without  strength  in 
trumps,  or  the  chance  of  establishing  a  suit, 
high  cards  may  be  judiciously  led  at  once  to 
avoid  being  trumped.  Whenever,  therefore,  a 
good  player  plays  out  his  winning  cards,  with- 
out first  playing  trumps,  it  is  a  manifest  token 
of  weakness,  instead  of  an  exhibition  of 
strength. 

The  argunient  is  thus  summed  up  by  Pro- 
fessor Pole  : 

"  Accepting,  therefore,  this  system  as  the  preferable 
one,  we  are  now  able  to  enunciate  the  fundamental 
theory  of  the  modern  scicntiilc  game,  which  is  : 

"  That  the  hands  of  this  two  partners  shall  not  be  played 
singly  and  independently,  but  shall  be  combined,  and 
treated  as  one.  And  that  in  order  to  carry  out  7nost  effec- 
tually this  principle  of  combination,  each  partner  shall 
adopt  the  long-suit  system  as  the  general  basis  of  his  plays'" 


54  limbist  IRuggets 


Mark  the  words  "general  basis."  This  is 
quite  enough  to  bring  about  the  required  under- 
standing, and  you  are  at  full  liberty  to  adapt 
your  play  to  circumstances  when  your  partner 
makes  no  distinct  call  upon  you,  or  is  unable 
to  co-operate  in  the  execution  of  a  plan. 

It  is  an  obvious  corollary  that  the  primary-  use 
of  trumps  is  to  draw  the  adversary's  trumps  for 
the  purpose  of  bringing  in  your  own  or  your  part- 
ner's long  suit ;  and  it  is  consequently  essential 
to  determine  what  strength  in  trumps  justifies 
you  in  leading  them.  There  is  a  capital  sketch 
of  a  whist  party  in  Sa7is  Merci,  by  the  author 
of  Guy  Livingston,  in  which  the  hero,  who  is 
losing  to  a  startling  amount,  asks  his  partner, 
an  old  hand,  whether  with  knave  five  he  ought 
not  to  have  led  trumps,  "It  has  been  com- 
puted," was  the  calm  reply,  "  that  eleven  thou- 
sand Englishmen,  once  heirs  to  fair  fortunes, 
are  wandering  about  the  Continent,  in  a  state 
of  utter  destitution,  because  they  would  not 
lead  trumps  with  five  and  an  honor  in  their 
hands."  Professor  Pole  is  distinct  and  positive 
on  this  point  : 


mbist  aiiD  mbist^iplagers  55 

"  whenever  you  have  five  trumps,  whatever  they  are, 
or  whatever  the  other  components  of  your  hand,  you 
should  lead  them  ;  for  the  probabilitj'  is  that  three,  or 
at  most  four,  rounds  will  exhaust  those  of  the  adver- 
saries, and  you  will  still  have  one  or  two  left  to  bring  in 
your  own  or  your  partner's  long-  suits,  and  to  stop 
those  of  the  enemy.  *  *  *  And,  further,  you  must 
recollect  that  it  is  no  argument  against  leading  trumps 
from  five,  that  you  have  no  long  suit,  and  that  your 
hand  is  otherwise  weak  ;  for  it  is  the  essence  of  the 
combined  principle  that  you  work  for  your  partner  as 
well  as  j'ourself,  and  the  probability  is  that  if  you  are 
weak,  he  is  strong,  and  will  have  long  suits  or  good 
cards  to  bring  in.  And  if,  unfortunately,  it  should 
happen  that  you  are  both  weak,  any  other  play  would 
be  probably  still  worse  for  you." 

Cavendish  says  that,  with  the  original  lead 
and  five  trumps,  you  should  almost  always  lead 
one ;  with  six,  invariably.  Colonel  Blyth, 
after  giving  the  same  qualified  opinion  in  his 
text,  adds  in  a  note  :  "  I  once  heard  a  first-rate 
whist-player  say  that,  with  four  trumps  in  your 
hand,  it  was  mostly  right  to  lead  them  ;  but 
that  he  who  held  five,  and  did  not  lead  them, 
was  fit  only  for  a  lunatic  asylum."  This  first- 
rate  whist-player  had  probably  recently  been 
playing  with  one  of  the  eleven  thousand,  or 
with  strong-minded  females  who  are  most  pro- 
vokingly  reticent  of  trumps.     We  should  rec- 


56  mbist  muggcts 

ommend  every  incipient  whist-player,  who  has 
not  experience  enough  to  mark  the  rare  excep- 
tional cases,  to  lead  one  when  he  holds  more 
than  four,  but  to  pause  and  reflect  with  four. 
With  four  small  trumps,  he  should  not  lead 
one,  unless  he  is  strong  in  all  the  other  suits, 
or  at  least  strong  enough  in  each  to  pre- 
vent the  establishment  of  an  adversary's  strong 
suit.  If  there  are  two  or  more  honors  amongst 
his  four,  or  the  ace,  he  may  lead  one  with  com- 
paratively little  risk. 

The  smallest  should  be  led  from  four  or 
more,  except  when  you  lead  from  a  sequence, 
or  except  when  you  have  king,  knave,  ten, 
with  others,  when  the  received  lead  is  the  ten. 
Mr.  Clay  has  laid  down  nem.  con.  (at  least, 
nem.  con.  amongst  the  authorities)  that  with 
ace,  king,  and  others  in  trumps,  you  should 
lead  the  lowest,  unless  you  have  more  than  six, 
/.  e.y  as  an  original  lead,  or  before  circumstances 
have  called  for  two  rounds  certain.  The  reason 
is  that  you  may  otherwise  lose  the  third  and 
most  important  trick  ;  for  if  you  have  no  more 
than  six,  the  odds  are  that  one  of  your  adver- 


Wlbiet  anO  1!mbi6t=ipiat>er6         57 

saries  has  at  least  three,  headed  by  a  superior 
card  to  your  third  best.  The  odds  are  also  in 
favor  of  your  partner  holding  the  queen  or 
knave,  and  if  the  queen  is  on  his  right,  the 
knave  is  commonly  as  good  as  the  queen.  With 
ace,  king,  knave,  and  three  small  trumps,  it 
may  be  as  well  to  lead  the  ace  and  king,  on  the 
chance  of  the  queen  falling.  With  ace,  king, 
knave,  and  less  than  three,  the  approved  prac- 
tice is  to  lead  the  king,  and  wait  for  the  return 
of  the  lead  to  finesse  the  knave. 

With  a  hand  requiring  or  justifying  a  trump 
lead,  the  fact  of  an  honor  being  turned  up  on 
your  right  must  be  disregarded,  even  with  a 
certainty  of  its  taking  your  partner's  best  card, 
the  grand  object  being  to  get  the  command  of 
trumps,  not  the  first  trick  in  them.  Unless  you 
wish  the  lead  in  trumps  to  be  returned,  do  not 
(at  least  not  early  in  the  hand)  lead  through  an 
honor,  for  the  practice  of  leading  through  hon- 
ors, except  as  a  regular  trump  lead,  has  been 
fortunately  given  up.  We  say  fortunately,  for, 
so  long  as  it  prevailed,  it  was  impossible  to 
know  whether  the  lead  through  the  honor  was 


58  mbist  mugaets 

the  regular  lead  of  trumps  or  not.  -  At  the  same 
time,  an  experienced  player  may  exercise  his 
discretion  in  refraining  from  immediately  re- 
turning the  lead  up  to  a  high  honor,  especially 
if  he  can  replace  the  lead  in  his  partner's  hand, 
and  so  enable  him  to  lead  through  the  honor  a 
second  time. 

There  is  another  case  when  you  may  avoid 
returning  a  lead  of  trumps,  whether  through  an 
honor  or  not,  /.  <?.,  when  your  partner  has  evi- 
dently led  from  weakness  or  desperation  in  a 
peculiar  condition  of  the  game.  Thus,  when 
he  leads  a  knave,  5'ou  may  take  for  granted 
that  it  is  his  best,  for  (in  England)  there  is  no 
recognized  trump  lead  from  knave  wnth  a 
higher  in  the  hand.  The  lead  of  the  ten  may 
be  from  king,  knave,  ten,  with  or  without 
others,  and  may  place  30U  in  doubt  unless  you 
know  that  your  partner  cannot  have  both  king 
and  knave.  In  our  opinion  you  should  always, 
when  third  player,  pass  the  ten  of  trumps  un- 
less you  see  your  way  clear  to  winning  both 
that  and  the  two  following  tricks.  If  it  does 
not  make,  it  forces  an  honor  and  compels  your 


•QBlbist  anD  mbist^iplaserg  59 

left-hand  adversary  to  play  up  to  you.  It  is 
quite  painful  to  see  an  ace  or  king  put  upon  a 
ten  evidently  led  from  weakness,  and  the  com- 
mand of  trumps  thus  irrecoverably  lost.  The 
time  for  this  lead  is  when  the  game  is  ob- 
viously lost,  or  in  great  jeopardy,  unless  your 
partner  is  strong  in  trumps.  For  example, 
your  adversaries  are  three  love,  and  your  onl}' 
trump,  or  highest  of  two  or  three,  is  the  ten. 
The  game  is  lost  unless  your  partner  has  two 
honors,  and  your  ten  will  materially  strengthen 
him,  if  he  has.* 

The  same  state  of  things  may  justify  or 
require  a  trump  lead,  even  when  you  have  no 
trump  that  can  be  called  strengthening,  not 
even  a  nine ;  but  the  lead  of  a  singleton  in 
trumps  at  the  commencement  of  the  game, 
with  nothing  in  the  state  of  the  score  to  justify 
it,  strikes  us  to  be  reprehensible  in  the  ex- 
treme. We  do  not  go  the  length  of  sajdng  with 
the  champion  of  the  old  school,  quoted  by  Mr. 

*  On  the  same  principle,  when,  to  enable  you  to  save 
the  game,  it  is  necessary  that  the  remaining  cards 
should  be  placed  in  a  particular  manner,  play  as  if  you 
knew  them  to  be  so  placed.  This  is  the  secret  of  many 
of  the  most  celebrated  instances  of  fine  play. 


6o  Wbist  IRug^cta 

Clay,  that  the  only  justification  for  leading  a 
singleton  in  trumps  (presumably  not  an  hon- 
or) is  holding  at  least  ace  and  king  in  the  three 
remaining  suits.  But  there  should  be  strength 
in  each  of  the  three  remaining  suits  sufficient 
to  prevent  the  establishment  of  a  long  suit  by 
the  adversaries.  There  is  also  this  essential 
objection  :  The  first  duty  of  a  player  is  to  de- 
cide, after  a  careful  study  of  his  cards,  whether 
he  is  to  play  a  superior  or  inferior  part,  whether 
he  is  to  be  commander  or  subordinate  for  the 
hand,  whether  he  is  to  act  on  the  offensive  or 
defensive,  to  aim  at  winning  or  sa\nng  the 
game.  Now,  with  one  trump  and  no  great 
strength  in  other  suits,  you  have  no  right  to 
assume  the  command  by  forcing  a  trump  lead 
on  your  partner,  who,  wdth  a  single  honor  and 
without  what  can  be  called  strength  in  trumps, 
may  manage  to  save  the  game,  if  you  do  not 
force  him  into  the  sacrifice  of  his  best  card  at 
starting.  Leave  him  to  initiate  the  lead  of  the 
trumps  either  by  leading  or  asking  for  them. 
Begin  with  your  high  cards  and  watch  for  the 
signal ;   if  it  is  not  forthcoming,   go  on  with 


'MbiBt  anO  "Mbist  ipla^ers         6i 

them  and  force.  If  you  have  no  high  cards, 
cadi^  questio :  you  would  be  clearly  wrong  to 
lead  the  trump. 

As  for  people  who  lead  trumps  because  they 
are  at  a  loss  what  else  to  lead,  they  might  just 
as  well  take  the  most  important  step  in  life,  go 
into  orders,  the  army,  or  Mrs.  Starr's  convent, 
marry,  or  get  unmarried,  from  sheer  lassitude 
and  vacuity.  It  is  Lord  Derb3''s  leap  in  the 
dark  repeated  on  a  small  scale.  A  trump  lead 
almost  always  brings  matters  to  a  crisis,  and 
should  never  be  hazarded  without  reason.  If 
absolutely  no  semblance  of  a  reason  suggests 
itself,  play  any  card  rather  than  a  trump  ;  and 
if  this  blank  state  of  mind  is  of  frequent  recur- 
rence after  a  resolute  effort  to  improve,  we 
should  address  the  dubitant  pretty  nearly  as 
the  French  fencing-master  addressed  the  late 
Earl  of  E.  at  the  conclusion  of  six  months' 
teaching  :  "  Milord,  je  vous  conseille  decidem- 
ment  d'abandonner  les  amies." 

The  importance  of  the  trump  lead  can  hardly 
be  over-estimated  when  we  consider  that  (with 
the  exceptions  already  hinted  at)  it  should  be 


62  TMbist  IWuggcts 

returned  immediately.  It  is  an  aphorism  of 
traditional  respectability  that  the  only  excuses 
for  not  returning  a  trump  are  a  fit  of  apoplexy 
or  not  having  any.^  These,  too,  are  the  only 
available  excuses  for  not  leading  trumps,  when 
your  partner  asks  for  them,  and  leading  them 
in  a  manner  to  carry  out  his  supposed  wishes 
to  the  full. 

*  The  following  case  fell  under  our  own  observation  : 
A.  (the  leader)  had  ace,  king,  two  small  spades  (trumps)  ; 
tierce  major,  two  other  clubs;  two  diamonds  and  two 
hearts.  B.  (left-hand  adversarj-i,  queen,  three  small 
trumps  ;  tierce  major  and  two'other  diamonds,  three 
hearts,  one  club.  C.  (A.'s  partner),  knave  and  one  small 
trump;  ace,  king,  long  suit  of  hearts  ;  diamonds  and 
one  club.  D.,  three  trumps,  one  heart;  diamonds,  and 
clubs.  B.  and  D.  were  three  love.  A.  led  a  trump  which 
was  won  with  the  knave  by  C'who  (instead  of  returning 
the  lead)  led  hearts,  which  were  trumped  the  second 
round  by  D.;  who  then  led  a  diamond  and  established  a 
kind  or  sea-saw,  B.  winning  with  diamonds,  and  D. 
trumping  hearts.  To  stop  this,  A.  over-trumped  with 
his  king,  and  led  his  ace  of  trumps  ;  leaving  B.  with 
the  queen  and  another.  B.  trumped  the  second  lead  of 
clubs,  drew  the  remaining  trumps,  made  his  remaining 
diamonds,  and  won  the  game.  If  C.  had  returned  the 
trump,  he  and  his  partner  7HHst  have  won  the  game, 
and  tnight  easily  have  made  even,'  trick  but  one  ;  for, 
after  three  rounds  of  trumps,  A.  would  have  forced  the 
queen,  re-established  his  suit  with  his  remaining  trump, 
and  then,  instructed  by  his  partner's  discards  of  dia- 
monds, have  led  hearts.  From  the  moment  the  second 
lead  of  hearts  began  there  was,  demonstrably,  no  man- 
ner of  play  by  which  he  could  save  the  game'  much  less 
win  it.  C.'s  excuse  for  not  returning  the  trump  was 
that  she  (it  is  commonly  a  fair  amateur  who  reasons  in 
this  fashion)  kept  it  to  trump  her  partner's  strong  suit, 
clubs.  Playing  out  high  cards  before  returning  the 
trump  is  incurring  the  very  risk  the  trump  lead  is  in- 
tended to  obviate. 


TKIlbist  atiD  1imbf6t*ipla^er6  63 


"  It  [asking  for  trumps]  consists  .in  throwing  away  an 
unnecessarily  high  card,  and  it  is  requisite  to  pay  great 
attention  to  this  definition.  Thus,  if  you  have  the 
deuce  and  three  of  a  suit  of  which  two  rounds  are 
played,  by  playing  the  three  to  the  first  round  and  the 
deuce  to  the  second,  you  have  signified  to  your  partner 
5'our  wish  that  he  should  lead  a  trump  as  soon  as  he 
gets  the  lead.  The  same  with  any  other  higher  card 
played  unnecessarily  before  a  lower." 


Mr.  Clay,  after  a  satisfactory  defence  of  its 
fairness,  goes  on  to  contend  that  this  signal 
should  never  be  given  simply  because  the 
demandant  would  rather  have  trumps  played 
upon  the  whole.  He  regards  it  as  tantamount 
to  saying:  "I  am  so  strong  that,  if  you  have 
anything  to  assist  me,  I  answer  for  the  game, 
or,  at  least,  for  a  great  score.  Throw  all  your 
strength  into  my  hand,  abandon  your  own 
game,  at  least  lead  me  a  trump,  and  leave  the 
rest  to  me." 

So  grave  does  the  resulting  responsibility  ap- 
pear to  this  master  of  the  art,  that,  he  tells  us, 
it  is  not  in  his  recollection  that  he  ever  took 
this  liberty  with  his  partner  when  he  held  less 
than  four  trumps,  two  honors,  or  five  trumps, 
one   honor,    along   with    cards   in   his   or   (ob- 


64  mbist  IRucigets 

viously)  in  his  partner's  hand  which  made  the 
fall  of  the  trumps  very  plainly  advantageous, 
adding  :  "I  am  far  from  saying,  that  with  the 
strength  in  trumps  which  I  have  described,  it 
is  always,  or  even  generally,  advisable  to  ask 
for  trumps.  I  have  only  ventured  to  lay  down 
that  which,  in  my  opinion,  should  be  the 
minimum." 

Upon  this  conventional  imderstanding,  a 
partner  with  two  or  three  trumps  should  lead 
the  best,  and  if  it  makes,  follow  with  the  next 
best  :  with  ace,  queen,  and  another,  lead  the 
ace,  then  the  queen,  and  then  the  other,  unless 
checked  by  an  indication  that  either  adversary 
has  no  more.  With  four,  unless  headed  by  the 
ace,  lead  the  lowest,  with  an  ace  and  others, 
the  ace.  Keeping  in  view  the  main  object,  the 
strengthening  of  your  partner,  no  player  of 
ordinary  sagacity  can  be  at  a  loss  how  to  meet 
a  call  for  trumps. 

In  returning  a  lead,  whether  in  plain  suits  or 
trumps,  if  you  have  not  decided  strength,  you 
should  be  guided  by  the  same  principle  of 
self-sacrifice.      Ha\dng   only   three   originally, 


Mbiat  anD  limblst^iplaBers  65 

you  should  return  the  best ;  with  four  or  more 
originally,  the  lowest.  Thus,  with  ace,  ten, 
three,  and  deuce,  you  should  win  with  the 
ace,  and  return  the  deuce.  With  ace,  ten,  and 
deuce  only,  you  win  with  the  ace  and  return 
the  ten.  This  not  only  strengthens  your  part- 
ner ;  it  enables  him  to  count  your  hand  : 

"  In  trumps,  for  instance,  when  he  holds  one,  with 
only  one  other  left  against  him,  he  will  very  frequently 
know,  as  surely  as  if  he  looked  into  your  hand,  whether 
that  other  trump  is  held  by  you,  or  by  an  adversary.  It 
follows  from  the  above  that  you  should  not  fail  to  remark 
the  card  in  your  own  lead,  which  your  partner  returns 
to  you,  and  whether  that  which  he  plays  to  the  third 
round  is  higher  or  lower  than  that  which  he  returned." 

The  principle  is  partially  applicable  to  origi- 
nal leads.  Thus,  if  you  have  only  two  or  three 
cards  of  a  suit  with  nothing  higher  than  a 
knave,  lead  the  highest :  if  you  are  compelled 
to  lead  from  ace,  king,  or  queen,  and  a  small 
one,  lead  the  highest ;  and  it  is  occasionally 
right  with  queen  and  two  small  ones,  to  lead 
the  queen,  thereby  giving  your  partner  the 
option  of  passing  it,  and  at  all  events  strength- 
ening him  where  you  are  weak. 

The  safest  leads  are  from  sequences  ;  and  the 


66  Mbist  muggets 

rule  in  dealing  with  them  is  to  lead  the  highest 
and  put  on  the  lowest.*  But  there  are  marked 
exceptions.  In  all  suits,  with  ace  and  king, 
you  begin  with  the  king  ;  but  in  trumps  with  a 
major  sequence  of  three  or  more,  you  begin 
with  the  lowest,  because  if  the  lower  are  not 
taken,  your  partner  will  infer  that  you  have  the 
higher  ;  but  if  with  three  or  four  honors  in  plain 
suits,  you  begin  with  the  queen  or  knave,  your 
partner  (if  weak  in  trumps)  might  feel  justified 
in  trumping.  Bearing  in  mind  that  the  odds 
are  four  to  one  against  a  suit  going  round  a 
third  time  without  a  renounce,  you  will  see  at 
a  glance  why  a  less  venturesome  course  must 
be  pursued  with  plain  suits  than  with  trumps  ; 
at  all  events,  till  trumps  are  exhausted.  Thus, 
you  play  off  your  ace  and  king  in  a  plain  suit 
instead  of  beginning  with  a  small  one  ;  with 
king,  queen,  and  others,  you  lead  the  king  in 
plain  suits,  and  a  small  one  in  trumps. 

There    are    some  other  fixed  original  leads 
(specified  in  the  books)  which  must  be  kept  in 


*  This  rule  does  not  apply  to  ^?^(&-sequences.  Thus  with 
king,  ten,  nine,  eight,  you  lead  the  eight. 


mbist  aiiD  'MhisUpia^cx^         67 

mind,  not  only  for  your  own  direction  in  lead- 
ing, but  to  enable  you  to  draw  inferences  from 
what  your  partner  or  adversary  has  led.  Thus 
with  ace  and  four  small  cards  (in  plain  suits), 
the  ace  :  with  ace  and  three,  the  lowest.*  With 
ace,  queen,  knave,  with  or  without  others,  the 
ace,  then  the  queen.  With  an  honor  and  three 
or  more  small  cards,  or  with  four  or  more  small 
cards  (not  headed  by  a  sequence),  the  lowest. 
For  leads  further  on  in  the  game,  you  may  de- 
rive important  information  from  the  discard. 
A  good  player  always  discards  from  his  weak 
suit,  or  from  the  suit  he  does  not  wish  led  to  him. 
There  is  no  commoner  or  stronger  sign  of  igno- 
rance or  inattention  than  instantly  leading,  with- 
out a  defined  motive,  the  suit  from  which  your 
partner  has  first  thrown  away.  As  the  game  pro- 
ceeds, also,  you  will  of  course  prefer  leading 
through  the  strong  hand  and  up  to  the  weak. 
Do  not  lead  to  force  your  partner,  or  on  the 
chance  of  forcing  him,  unless  you  are  strong  in 

*  This  is  one  of  the  points  in  which  the  best  Paris  play- 
ers differ  from  the  EJnglish.  With  ace  and  three  small 
cards,  they  play  the  ace.  Another  is  in  leading  from 
king,  knave,  ten  in  trumps;  they  lead  the  knave;  we 
the  ten. 


68  mbist  nWQQCtS 

trumps.  We  say  "  or  on  the  chance  of  forcing," 
for  nothing  is  more  common  than  after  playing 
ace  and  king,  to  lead  a  third  round  in  the  hope 
that  the  partner  will  win  with  the  queen  or 
trump.  If  he  is  strong  in  trumps,  this  is  bad 
either  way  ;  for  assuming  him  to  have  the  best 
card,  the  odds  are  that  it  wall  be  trumped, 
whereas  he  might  have  got  out  trumps  and 
made  it. 

Mr.  Clay  lays  down  that  four  trumps  with  an 
honor  is  the  minimum  strength  that  justifies  a 
force  without  a  peculiar  object,  such  as  securing 
a  double  ruff  or  making  sure  of  a  trick  to  win 
or  save  the  game,  or  unless  your  partner  has 
been  forced  and  has  not  led  a  trump,  or  unless 
he  has  invited  the  force,  or  unless  the  adversary 
has  led  or  asked  for  trumps.  "  This  last  excep- 
tion," he  says,  "is  the  slightest  of  the  justifica- 
tions for  forcing  your  partner  when  j-ou  are 
weak  in  trumps,  but  it  is  in  most  cases  a  suf- 
ficient apology."  We  cannot  think  so.  If  the 
adversary  has  led  or  asked  for  trumps,  and  you 
are  weak  in  them,  you  should  do  all  you  can  to 
strengthen  instead  of  weakening  your  partner ; 


Mbist  ant)  'MbieU^l^^cte         69 


instead  of  forcing  /n7n,  force  the  trump-asking 
or  trump-leading  adversary.  This  is  the  best 
use  of  good  cards  when  the  strength  in  trumps 
has  been  declared  against  you  :  but  take  care 
that  it  is  the  ^/r<9;/^  adversary  you  force.  "It 
follows  that  there  can  be  but  few  whist  offences 
more  heinous  than  forcing  your  partner  when 
he  has  led  a  trump  (or  refused  to  trump),  and 
you  are  yourself  not  very  strong  in  them." 

The  following  is  a  golden  rule  which  should 
prevent  an  infinity  of  hesitation  :  "With  four 
trumps,  do  not  trump  an  uncertain  card,  /.  e., 
one  which  your  partner  ma}-  be  able  to  win. 
With  less  than  four  trumps,  and  no  honor,  trump 
an  uncertain  card."  With  a  king  and  one,  or 
the  queen  and  two  small  trumps  also,  it  is 
clearly  wrong  to  trump  an  uncertain  card,  as  it 
is  when  trumps  have  been  played,  and  you 
have  the  best  trump  left,  with  a  losing  card  to 
throw  awa}-.  There  are  occasions  also  when  it 
is  advisable  to  give  a  trick  with  the  view  of 
getting  led  up  to,  but  Mr.  Clay  says  :  "  Do  not 
give  away  a  certain  trick  by  refusing  to  ruff,  or 
otherwise,  unless  you  see  a  fair  chance  of  mak- 


70  TKIlbist  mug^ets 


iug  two  by  your  forbearance."  Young  players 
should  be  especially  cautioned  against  giving 
away  sure  tricks.  They  sometimes  suffer  two 
or  three  tricks  to  be  made  in  a  long  suit  by 
withholding  the  long  trump,  though  they  have 
nothing  else  to  do  with  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  eagerness  to  trump  with 
strength  in  trumps  shows  ignorance  or  defiance 
of  all  sound  principle  ;  for  you  weaken  yourself, 
and  you  deceive  your  partner,  besides  depriving 
him  of  the  advantage  of  his  position  as  fourth 
player,  with  possibly  a  commanding  tenace.  If 
a  good  player  trumps  a  doubtful  card,  the  in- 
ference is  that  he  is  weak  in  trumps  ;  if  he 
refuses,  that  he  has  four  at  least,  or  a  guarded 
honor  ;  if  he  refuses  to  trump  a  known  winning 
card,  take  it  for  granted  that  he  is  strong,  and 
at  the  very  first  opportunit}'  lead  a  trump.  It 
is  usual  when  the  ace  of  trumps  is  a  singleton, 
to  lead  it  at  once  ;  your  partner  understands 
that  you  have  no  more,  and  has  the  option  of 
resuming  the  lead  and  drawing  two  for  one. 
This  lead  cannot,  like  a  lead  from  another 
singleton,    mislead   or    entrap     your    partner. 


Mbfst  anD  mbistsipiai^crs         71 


By  leading  a  singleton  ace  in  a  plain  suit, 
besides  inviting  a  force,  j^ou  give  up  the  chance 
of  catching  an  adversary's  honor,  and  the  only 
contingency  against  you  (an  improbable  one)  is 
your  partner  leading  the  kin^.  The  lead  of  a 
singleton  king  is  wrong,  except  in  trumps  when 
your  partner  has  turned  up  an  ace.  Always  con- 
sider before  leading  what  inference  your  part- 
ner will  be  entitled  to  draw  from  your  lead,  and 
what  effect  it  may  have  upon  his  hand,  as  by 
sacrificing  one  of  his  best  cards  without  benefit- 
ing you. 

The  play  of  the  Second  Hand  is  more  easily 
reducible  to  rule  than  that  of  the  first.  The 
cases  of  most  frequent  application  are  detailed 
in  the  books.     Mr.  Clay  says  : 

"Playing  high  cards,  when  second  to  play,  unless 
your  suit  is  headed  by  two  or  more  high  cards  of  equal 
value,  or  unless  to  cover  a  high  card,  is  to  be  carefully 
avoided. 

"  With  two  or  three  cards  of  the  suit  played,  cover  a 
high  card.  Play  a  king,  or  a  queen,  on  a  knave,  or  ten, 
etc. 

■'  With  four  cards,  or  more,  of  the  suit  played,  do  not 
cover,  unless  the  second  best  of  your  suit  is  also  a  valu- 
able card.  Thus  with  a  king  or  queen,  and  three  or 
more  small  cards,  do  not  cover  a  high  card  ;  but  if,  along 


72  llClbist  Budgets 


with  your  king  or  queen,  you  hold  the  ten,  or  even  the 
nine,  cover  a  queen  or  a  knave. 

"  With  king  and  another,  not  being  trumps,  do  not 
play  your  king,  unless  to  cover  a  high  card. 

"  With  king  and  another,  being  trumps,  play  your 
king." 


The  reason  lie  gives  for  this  distinction  is,  that 
the  ace  is  not  generally  led  from  except  in 
trumps,  but  this  is  only  true  of  the  higher  order 
of  players,  who  see  the  value  of  an  ace  as  a  card 
of  re-entry. 

"With  queen  and  another,"  he  continues, 
'*  whether  trumps  or  not,  play  your  small  card, 
unless  to  cover."  Despite  of  this  recognized 
maxim,  many  respectable  players  are  constant- 
ly trying  to  snatch  a  trick  with  the  queen,  and 
exult  in  their  occasional  success  ;  forgetting 
that  the  maxim  is  based  on  a  careful  calculation 
of  the  chances,  and  that  the  conventional 
language  is  confused  by  contravening  it. 

With  knave,  ten,  or  nine,  and  one  small  card, 
play  the  small  card,  unless  to  cover.  With 
king,  queen,  and  one  or  more  small  cards,  play 
the  queen,  except  in  trumps,  when  circum- 
stances may  justify  you  in  giving  your  partner 


1Kabi6t  anD  mbist^iplasers         73 


a  chance  of  making  the  trick.     The  rationale 

of  the  general  rule,  to  play  your  lowest  card 

second,  is  given  by  Cavendish  : 

' '  You  presume  that  the  first  hand  has  led  from  strength, 
and  if  you  have  a  high  card  in  his  suit,  you  lie  over  him 
when  it  is  led  again  ;  whereas,  if  you  play  your  high 
card  second  hand,  you  get  rid  of  a  commanding  card  of 
the  adversary's  suit,  and  when  it  is  returned,  the 
original  leader  finesses  against  you.  Besides  this  the 
third  player  will  put  on  his  highest  card,  and,  if  it  is 
better  than  yours,  you  have  wasted  power  to  no  purpose. ' ' 

In  the  first  lead,  therefore,  if  you  have  ace 
and  queen  with  strength  in  trumps,  you  play  a 
small  card  second  hand,  and  wait  for  the  re- 
turn, the  chances  being  that  the  lead  is  from 
the  king.  If  the  lead  is  a  knave  or  any  other 
card  indicating  weakness,  put  on  the  ace.  Put- 
ting the  queen  (when  you  have  ace,  queen)  on 
the  knave  (a  common  practice)  is  simply  sacri- 
ficing her  if  the  king  is  with  the  third  player, 
and  uselessly  destroying  your  tenace  if  the  king 
is  with  the  fourth  (your  partner).  The  king 
(except  in  one  rare  contingency)  must  be  be- 
hind you.  The  lead  of  ten  or  nine  may  be 
either  from  weakness  or  strength  ;  and  (with 
ace,  queen)  you  must  be  guided  by  circumstan- 


74  mbm  nmQcts 

ces,  by  the  usual  play  of  your  adversary,  by  the 
state  of  3'our  own  hand,  or  (if  the  lead  is  not  the 
first)  by  such  indications  as  may  have  occurred. 
With  ace.  queen,  ten,  plaj^  the  queen.  With 
ace,  queen,  knave,  or  with  ace,  queen,  knave, 
ten,  etc.,  the  lowest  of  the  sequence.  With 
ace,  king,  knave,  the  king  :  then  (in  trumps, 
or  if  strong  in  trumps)  wait  for  the  chance  of 
finessing  or  of  catching  the  queen.  With  ace, 
king,  and  others  in  plain  suits,  the  king  ;  in 
trumps  the  lowest,  unless  you  wish  to  stop  the 
lead  and  give  your  partner  a  ruff.  It  is  per- 
emptorily laid  down  :  "  Play  an  ace  on  a  knave." 
But  surely  this  cannot  be  always  right  in  trumps, 
for  it  gives  up  the  command  at  once,  and  ful- 
fils the  precise  purpose  of  the  leader,  which  is 
presumably  to  clear  the  way  for  his  partner. 
With  ace  and  four  small  ones,  some  put  on  the 
ace  second  hand  for  the  same  reason  which  in- 
duces them  to  lead  it  with  the  same  number  of 
the  suit.  But  the  cases  are  essentially  distinct ; 
for  by  playing  the  ace  second  hand,  you  know- 
ingly give  up  the  advantage  of  h'ing  over  the 
leader  in  his  strong  suit.     In  our  opinion,  it 


Mblst  an^  Mbist^iplascrs         75 


should  not  be  so  played,  unless  you  have  more 
than  four  others  of  the  suit,  and  are  weak  in 
trumps.  By  "  weak  "  or  "strong  "  in  trumps  in 
all  such  contingencies  is  meant,  are  you,  or 
(presumably)  5-our  partner,  strong  enough  to 
draw  the  adversary's  trumps  and  prevent  the 
reserved  cards  from  being  trumped  ?  You  have 
little  chance  of  attaining  this  desirable  object 
with  less  than  four,  including  the  ace  or  two 
honors,  and  you  will  probably  come  to  grief  if 
you  attempt  it  ^^'ith  inadequate  means. 

The  play  of  the  Third  Hand  involves  the  the- 
ory- of  the  finesse,  on  which  M.  Deschapelles 
has  left  a  fragment  which  makes  us  regret  the 
want  of  his  great  work  as  we  regret  the  lost 
books  of  Livy  or  the  unreported  speeches  of 
Bolingbroke.  "In  the  high  cards,"  he  says,  "the 
simple  finesse  is  almost  mechanical  :  nobody 
fails  to  practise  it.  There  are,  however,  many 
cases  which  do  not  allow  of  it.  We  should 
habituate  ourselves  to  keep  the  organ  of  atten- 
tion constantly  on  the  qui  vii'e,  so  as  onh'  to  do 
by  choice  and  after  balancing  the  advantages, 
the  things  which  seem  to  belong  to  routine.     A 


7^  WbiBt  timQCts 


moment  of  distraction  or  forgetfulness,  and 
you  haply  fall  into  a  fault  which  will  ruin  your 
reputation.  I  have  seen  skilful  players  finesse 
in  a  trick  which  would  have  given  them  the 
game,  and  others  commit  the  same  blunder  in 
the  last  trick  but  one,  with  a  trump  in.  Censure 
has  no  mercy  for  them  ;  its  thousand  sharp  and 
quick  tongues  are  multiplied  to  defame  you  ; 
you  cannot  appear  anywherefora  week  without 
running  the  gauntlet  of  an  exaggerated  recital 
and  a  mortifying  inquiry-." 

Nor  is  the  punishment  one  whit  too  severe. 
In  whist  clubs  or  circles,  a  list  of  the  grossest 
ofifenders  should  be  hung  up  for, a  week,  like 
the  list  of  offenders  against  public  decency  in 
the  parks,  or  of  the  defaulters  or  lame  ducks 
on  the  Stock  Kxchange.  We  do  not  mean  such 
offences  as  forgetting  or  mistaking  a  card,  but 
such  as  forcing  a  partner  who  has  led  trumps 
or  refused  to  trump,  or  finessing  in  the  trick  by 
which  the  game  might  be  saved  or  won,  such, 
in  short,  as  the  commonest  discretion  and  the 
merest  modicum  of  good  sense  would  obviate. 
Habitual  carelessness  also  merits  severe  repre- 


mbist  auD  WibiBt^^la^exe         77 


hension,  such  as  playing  a  higher  card  instead 
of  a  lower,  even  a  five  instead  of  a  four,  or 
vice  versa,  contrary  to  the  fixed  rules  of  the 
game.  The  last  player,  not  being  able  to  win 
the  seven,  plays  the  six  ;  his  partner  takes  for 
granted  that  he  has  no  more,  refrains  from  a 
meditated  lead  of  trumps,  plays  for  a  ruff 
and  finds  him  with  the  five  !  In  a  trump  lead, 
the  third  player  with  ace,  six,  four,  three, 
wins  with  the  ace,  returns  the  four,  and  after- 
wards plays  the  three.  His  partner,  taking  it 
for  granted  that  he  has  played  the  best  of  tzuo 
remaining  cards  and  that  the  remaining  trump, 
the  six,  is  in  an  adversary's  hand,  draws  it  and 
haply  loses  the  game.  If  he  had  returned  the 
three,  and  afterwards  played  the  four,  his  part- 
ner would  have  known  to  a  certainty  that  the 
remaining  trump  was  in  his  hand. 

To  the  same  category  belongs  the  playing 
false  cards.  "  I  hold  in  abhorrence  the  play- 
ing false  cards,"  is  the  emphatic  denunciation 
of  Mr.  Clay.  With  exceptions,  which  he  ad- 
raits,  we  completely  go  along  with  him  ;  and 
the  practice  may  fairly  be  called  un-Knglish  ; 


78  mhist  muggets 

for  (he  states),  "  French  players  are  dangerously- 
addicted  to  false  cards,  and  the  Americans 
rarely  play  the  right  card  if  they  have  one 
to  play  which  is  likely  to  deceive  everybody. 
They  play  for  their  own  hands  alone — the 
worst  fault  I  know  in  a  whist-player."  He 
puts  the  case  of  your  partner  winning  with 
the  highest  instead  of  the  lowest,  as  with  the 
ace  instead  of  the  king,  whence  you  assume 
that  the  king  is  against  you  and  find  the  whole 
scheme  of  your  game  destroyed.  But  take  the 
everj^-day  case — with  the  king  led  presumably 
from  ace  and  king — of  dropping  the  queen 
instead  of  the  knave,  in  the  hope  of  stopping 
the  suit.  The  suit  is  stopped,  but  your  partner 
may  be  mischievously  deceived  ;  for,  on  your 
having  or  not  having  the  knave,  depends  the 
entire  quality  of  your  hand  and  the  course  of 
combined  action  he  should  pursue.  False  cards, 
therefore  should  never  be  played  unless  at  a 
period  of  the  game  when  your  partner  is  prac- 
tically /lors  de  combat^  or  when  he  is  incapable 
of  drawing  the  ordinary  inferences  which  will 
be  drawn  by  your  adversaries.      "  Why  did  you 


mblst  anD  WibieU^la^cts         79 

play  that  card  ? ' '  was  the  question  incautiously 
put  to  a  good  player  by  an  astonished  by- 
stander. "  For  the  very  sufficient  reason,"  was 
the  answer,  in  a  loud  stage  whisper,  "that  my 
partner  is  a  ?;/?(^." 

Habitual  hesitation,  also,  is  a  very  grave 
fault.  It  is  by  turns  unfair  as  enlightening 
your  partner  and  indiscreet  as  giving  hints  to 
your  adversaries.  Indicating  the  quality  of  the 
hand  in  any  manner,  by  word  or  gesture,  should 
be  suppressed  by  a  penalty ;  and  any  player 
who  says  he  has  the  game  in  his  hand,  should 
lay  his  cards  on  the  table  and  submit  to  have 
them  called.  Cards  thrown  down  should  always 
be  called,  for  otherwise  an  unfair  advantage  is 
obtained;  all  liability  to  a  mistake  in  playing 
them  being  thereby  avoided  ;  and  the  practice 
should  be  discountenanced  as  wasting  instead 
of  saving  both  time  and  temper  by  the  discus- 
sion it  creates.  lyike  Mrs.  Battle  we  are  de- 
cidedly for  "  a  clear  fire,  a  clean  hearth,  and 
the  rigor  of  the  game."  *     Unless  the  laws  are 

*  Eh'a.  First  .Series  — Hazlitt,  although,  like  a  certain 
dignified  ornament  of  the  church,  constantly  in  hot 
water,   was  not  equally  remarkable  for  clean   hands. 


8o  TKIlblst  IRuggets 


regularly  euforced,  any  occasional  enforcement 
of  them  is  open  to  the  imputation  of  an  unfair 
advantage  ;  so  that  uniform  strictness  is  most 
favorable  to  a  good  understanding. 

A  moment's  pause  before  the  opening — and  no 
good  player  will  need  more — for  the  formation 
of  a  plan  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  hesita- 
tion. "  This  moment,"  observes  M.  Descha- 
pelles,  "will  be  amply  compensated:  it  may 
save  ten  ;  for  the  cards  will  flow  rapidly  as 
consequences  ;  your  adversaries  will  be  unable 
to  draw  inferences  ;  and  your  partner,  catching 
confidence  from  your  self-possession,  will  be- 
come charged  with  the  electric  spark  which 
fuses  the  vioi  into  the  intelligent  and  co-oper- 
ating nous.'" 

But  we  are  digressing  and  must  return  to  the 

finesse,  which  depends  so  much  en  inference 

and   the   state  of  the  score,  that  few  general 

maxims  can  be  laid  down.     Imprimis,  the  only 

finesse  permissible  in  your  partner's  long  suit 

(his  first  lead)  is  from  ace  and  queen.     If  the 

Elia  (Charles  Lamb),  playing  whist  with  him,  dryly  ob- 
served :  "If  dirt  was  trumps,  what  hands  you  would 
hold." 


TKIlblst  anD  Wib\sUt>la^ct6 


queen  wins,  immediately  return  the  ace  in 
trumps,  and  also  in  plain  suits,  unless  there  are 
symptoms  of  trumping.  In  that  case,  play 
trumps,  if  you  are  strong  enough  ;  otherwise 
change  the  suit,  and  wait  to  see  what  your 
partner  will  do  ;  or,  if  you  have  a  good  trump, 
though  weak,  play  it  to  strengthen  him.  A 
good  player  wall,  of  course,  finesse  more  fre- 
quently, and  more  deeply,  in  trumps  than  in 
plain  suits,  because  he  is  generally  sure  of 
making  the  reserved  card,  and  of  making  it  at 
the  most  favorable  moment.  Thus,  if  with  ace, 
king,  and  knave,  he  finesses  the  knave  and 
loses  it,  he  is  still  in  a  better  position  than  if 
he  had  played  his  king  and  left  the  queen 
guarded  and  held  up  behind  him.  With  ace, 
knave,  ten  (in  trumps),  the  ten  may  be  finessed 
if  two  immediate  rounds  are  not  required. 
When  weak  in  trumps,  finesse  deeply  in  the 
suit  in  which  your  partner  is  weak.  This, 
though  contrary  to  the  general  practice,  is 
strongly  recommended  by  Mr.  Clay.  The 
finesse  of  knave  from  king,  knave,  cannot  be 

recommended   unless   your   partner   has    obvi- 
6 


82  MblBt  1FlUQ0Ct6 


ously  led  from  weakness.  Your  partner  wins 
with  the  queen  and  returns  the  lead  with  a 
small  card  :  with  king,  ten,  finesse  the  ten,  for 
the  ace  is  certainly  held  over  you,  and  if  the 
knave  is  in  the  same  hand,  you  must  lose  both 
any  way.  This  is  an  instance  of  what  is  called 
the  finesse  obligatory. 

The  chief  difiiculty  of  the  Fourth  Hand  is  in 
discriminating  the  rare  instances  in  which  the 
trick  should  not  be  taken.  You  have  three 
cards  left :  ace,  knave,  and  a  small  one  ;  your 
adversary  with  king,  queen,  ten,  leads  the  king. 
If  you  take  the  king,  you  win  one  trick  ;  if  you 
allow  it  to  make,  you  win  two.  There  are  also 
occasions  when  you  give  the  trick  in  order  to 
compel  the  adversary  to  lead  up  to  you  in 
another  suit.  A  common  ruse  (which  Mr.  Clay 
strongly  condemns)  is  to  hold  up  the  ace  when 
you  have  ace  and  knave  and  the  adversary  has 
led  the  king  from  king  and  queen.  This  is 
dangerous  out  of  trumps,  or  unless  you  are  very 
strong  in  trumps  and  want  to  establish  the  suit, 
and  then  your  partner  may  trump  the  second 
round  and  be  carried  off  on  a  wrong  scent.     In 


•Qdblst  anD  TKHbietsiplasers         83 


trumps,  the  opportunity  can  rarely  arise  with 
good  players.  An  ace  may  sometimes  be  kept 
back  with  telling  effect,  not  only  in  trumps, 
but  with  ace  and  four  small  cards  in  a  plain 
suit ;  the  trumps  being  out  or  with  you,  and 
three  tricks  required  to  win  or  save  the  game. 
If  no  other  player  has  more  than  three,  and  the 
ace  is  kept  back  till  the  third  round,  the  three 
tricks  are  secured. 

But  an  inexperienced  player  cannot  be  recom- 
mended to  risk  a  stroke  of  this  kind  ;  neither 
should  we  recommend  him  to  resort  to  under- 
play, until  he  has  advanced  far  enough  to  be 
initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the  £■  rand  coup:'' 
Play  the  plain,  unpretending,  unambitious 
game,  till  the  higher  and  finer  class  of  combi- 
nations break  upon  you.  On  the  other  hand, 
don't  shun  any  amount  of  justifiable  risk.  If, 
looking  to  the  score  and  the  number  of  tricks 


*  T'he.^randcoup  is  getting  rid  of  a  superfluous  trumf 
which  may  compel  you  to  win  a  trick  and  take  the  lead 
when  you  do  not  want  it.  It  was  the  master-stroke,  tht 
coup  de  Jarnac,  of  Deschapelles.  Underplay  is  when,  re- 
taining the  best  of  a  suit,  you  play  a  small  one  in  tht 
hope  that  your  left-hand  adversary  will  hold  up  the 
second  best  and  allow  your  partner  to  make  the  trick 
with  a  lower  card. 


84  Mbiet  nwQQCts 

on  the  table,  a  desperate  measure  is  called  for, 
risk  it ;  if  great  strength  in  trumps  in  your 
partner's  hand  is  required  to  save  the  game, 
play  your  best  trump,  however  weak  in  them. 
All  ordinary  rules  must  be  set  aside  in  this 
emergency  ;  every  available  force  must  be  in- 
stantly called  into  the  field.  Here  is  the  crisis 
in  which  you  must  lead  the  king  with  only  one 
small  one  in  his  train  :  as  at  Fontenoy  and 
Steinkirk,  there  is  nothing  for  it  but  for  the 
maison  du  roi  to  charge.  There  are  moments 
in  whist  when  a  coup  d'ceil  is  wanted  like  that 
of  the  dying  Marmion  : 

"  Let  Stanley  charge  with  spur  of  fire, 
"\^■ith  Chester  charge  and  Lancashire, 
Full  upon  Scotland's  central  host. 
Or  victorj'  and  England's  lost." 

One  of  the  chosen  few  being  asked  what  he 
deemed  the  distinctive  excellence  of  a  fine 
plaj-er,  replied,  "  playing  to  the  point."  Such 
a  player  plays  almost  every  hand  differently 
without  once  departing  from  the  conventional 
language  of  the  game.  It  is  an  excellence 
rarely  attained  or  appreciated  ;  and  the  great 


Mbfat  anD  Taflblst^iplasers 


majority  of  players  play  on  just  the  same  what- 
ever the  state  of  the  score  or  the  number  of 
tricks  already  made  on  either  side.  They  not 
only  run  risks  to  secure  three  tricks  when  they 
only  want  one  :  we  have  seen  a  gentleman 
playing  for  the  odd  trick  with  six  tricks  made 
against  him,  deliberately  give  away  the  seventh 
by  declining  to  trump  for  fear  of  being  over- 
trumped !  We  have  seen  another  take  out  the 
card  that  would  have  won  the  game,  look  at  it, 
fumble  with  it,  and  then  put  it  back  again. 
Nelson  told  his  captains  at  Trafalgar  that  any 
one  of  them  who  did  not  see  his  way  clearly 
could  not  go  far  wrong  if  he  laid  his  ship  along- 
side a  ship  of  the  enemy.  No  whist-player  can 
go  far  wrong  who  wins  a  trick  when  the  game 
is  growing  critical.  We  do  not  say  with  Hoyle  : 
"^Vhenever  you  are  in  doubt,  win  the  trick  "; 
for  we  have  heard  puzzle-headed  people  appeal 
to  this  maxim  after  trumping  the  leading  card 
of  their  partner's  long  suit,  or  trumping  a  doubt- 
ful card  with  the  solitary  guard  to  a  king  or 
with  one  of  four  trumps  which  constituted  their 
strength.     But  we  say  :  when  you  are  in  doubt 


86  imbl6t  IRuciaets 

with  the  adverse  pack  of  tricks  dangerously 
mounting  up,  win  the  trick.  Hesitation  with- 
out knowledge  makes  matters  worse.  Instead 
of  snatching  a  grace  beyond  the  reach  of  art, 
the  hesitating  player  commonly  commits  a 
blunder  beyond  the  reach  of  speculation,  and 
tempts  one  to  exclaim  with  Johnson:  "You 
must  have  taken  great  pains  with  yourself,  sir ; 
you  could  not  naturally  have  been  so  very 
stupid." 

Few  readers  can  have  forgotten  the  bitter 
comment  of  Rasselas  after  Imlac  had  enumer- 
ated the  qualities  needed  to  excel  in  poetry  : 
"Enough,  thou  hast  convinced  me  that  no 
human  being  can  ever  be  a  poet."  An  enu- 
meration of  the  qualities  needed  to  shine  in 
whist  might  provoke  a  similar  retort.  In  the 
famous  passage  which  Mr,  Disraeli  borrowed 
from  M,  Thiers,  describing  the  qualifications 
and  responsibilities  of  a  great  commander,  we 
find  :  *'  At  the  same  moment  he  must  think  of 
the  eve  and  the  morrow — of  his  flanks  and  his 
reserve  :  he  must  calculate  at  the  same  time 
the  state  of  the  weather  and  the  moral  qualities 


mblst  anO  Mbistsipla^era  87 


of  his  men.  *  *  *  Not  only  must  he  think 
— he  must  think  with  the  rapidity  of  light- 
ning; for  on  a  moment  more  or  less  depends 
the  fate  of  the  finest  combinations,  and  on 
a  moment  more  or  less  depends  the  glory 
or  the  shame.  Doubtless  all  this  may  be 
done  in  an  ordinary  manner  by  an  ordinary 
man  ;  as  we  see  every  day  of  our  lives  ordinary 
men  making  successful  ministers  of  state,  suc- 
cessful speakers,  successful  authors.  But  to  do 
all  this  with  genius  is  sublime." 

Something  very  similar  might  be  said  of  a 
great  whist-player, — indeed,  has  been  said  by 
M.  Deschapelles,  who  was  himself  the  great  sub- 
lime he  drew.  He  must  watch  and  draw  infer- 
ences from  three  hands  besides  his  own  ;  he 
must  play  twenty-six  cards  instead  of  thirteen  ; 
he  must  follow  the  shifting  condition  of  four 
suits  ;  he  must  calculate,  at  the  same  time,  each 
phase  of  the  game,  and  the  moral  and  mental 
qualities  of  the  players.  Are  they  strong  or 
weak,  bold  or  cautious,  frank  or  tricky  and 
given  to  false  cards  ?  He  must  think  with  in- 
tuitive rapidity  and  sagacity.     If  he  miscalcu- 


88  IKflbist  IRuggcts 

lates,  or  loses  the  key  to  a  single  combination, 
he  is  lost.  We  see  ordinary  men  making  tol- 
erably good  whist-players,  but  the  fine  whist- 
player  is  as  rare  as  the  great  commander  ;  and 
to  the  beau  ideal  ono:  might  be  applied  what  the 
Irishman  predicated  of  a  finished  Irish  gentle- 
man— that  there  would  be  nothing  like  him  in 
the  world,  ifyoic  could  but  incei  with  him. 

Not  only  did  we  never  meet  wnth  or  hear  of  a 
whist-player  who  could  venture  to  boast  with 
Turenne  that  he  never  fought  a  battle  that  he 
did  not  deserve  to  win  ;  but  we  have  heard  an 
excellent  one  adopt  the  aphorism,  attributed  to 
the  Iron  Duke,  that  a  battle  was  a  game  in 
which  those  who  made  the  fewest  blunders  won. 
Or  a  parallel  maybe  drawn  between  the  paladin 
of  the  whist-table  and  the  damsel  in  the  Vaude- 
ville who  took  her  married  sister's  fault  upon 
herself,  and  is  thus  apostrophized  by  her 
brother-in-law:  "  Ouoi  !  vous,  Marie,  vous,  la 
Vertu  meme ! "  Her  reply  is  exquisite  for 
feminine  self-knowledge  and  tact  :  "  Oh  !  la 
Vertu,  la  Vertu  !  tout  le  monde  a  ses  heures  ou 
ses  moments."     The  most  consummate   skill, 


mbist  anD  mbist^ipla^ers 


like  Virtue  herself,  is  not  safe  against  a  slip. 
Did  not  the  late  Earl  Granville  lose  a  rubber, 
after  giving  the  long  odds  in  thousands,  by  for- 
getting the  seven  of  hearts  ?  Did  not  Henry 
Lord  de  Roos  lose  one  on  which  three  thousand 
pounds  was  staked  by  miscounting  a  trump  ? 
Did  not,  only  the  other  day,  the  Daniel  or 
Gamaliel  of  the  Arlington  fail  to  detect  a  palpa- 
ble revoke,  to  the  astonishment  and  (it  must  be 
owned)  gratification  of  the  by-standers,  some 
of  whom  went  home  consoled  and  elevated  in 
their  own  self-esteem  by  his  default  ? 

But  let  no  one  hurry  to  the  conclusion  that 
skill  is  of  minor  importance  because  it  is 
sometimes  found  tripping,  or  because  the  fine 
player  may  be  often  seen  vainly  struggling 
against  cards,  when,  like  the  good  man  strug- 
gling against  adversity,  he  is  a  spectacle  for  the 
gods.  "Human  life,"  writes  Jeremy  Taylor, 
"is  like  playing  at  tables;  the  luck  is  not  in 
our  power,  but  the  playing  the  game  is. ' '  For 
"playing  at  tables,"  read  whist.  Independent- 
ly of  the  intellectual  gratification,  skill  will 
prove  an  ample  and  material  remuneration  in 


90  mbist  IRuQQets 

the  long  run  for  the  pains  bestowed  in  acquiring 
it.  If  only  one  trick  per  hand  were  won  or  lost 
by  play,  the  percentage  would  be  immense  ; 
but  two  or  three  tricks  per  hand  are  frequently 
so  won  or  lost.  We  have  repeatedly  in  a  single 
sitting  seen  bad  players  score  three  or  four  with 
hands  which,  held  by  good  players,  would  in- 
fallibly have  made  the  game.  With  tolerably 
equal  cards,  play  must  turn  the  balance  :  with 
fortune  pro,  it  indefinitely  increases  the  gain  ; 
with  fortune  con,  it  indefinitely  diminishes  the 
loss.  It  must  have  been  the  effect  of  irritability 
after  losing  to  bunglers  that  made  high  authori- 
ties deny  so  obvious  a  truth.  We  are  quite  sure 
that  in  their  cooler  moments  they  would  agree 
with  us. 

A  curious  piece  of  evidence  bearing  on  this 
subject  was  given  at  the  De  Roos  trial  by  a  dis- 
tinguished whist-player,  who  stated  that  he  had 
played  regularly  for  about  the  same  stakes  dur- 
ing twenty  years  ;  that  his  winnings  had  aver- 
aged ;^i,500  a  year,  making  ^30,000  in  the  ag- 
gregate, but  that  he  had  two  consecutive  years 
of  ill-luck,  during  which  he  lost  ;^8,ooo.     An- 


Iimblst  anD  Mbist^ipia^ers         91 

other  witness,  a  captain  in  the  navy,  who  had 
realized  a  regular  income  by  his  skill,  was 
asked  whether  he  was  not  in  the  habit  of  din- 
ing on  boiled  chicken  and  lemonade  when  he 
had  serious  work  in  hand  ;  and  the  alleged 
training  (which  he  denied)  was  no  imputation 
on  his  sagacity.  No  man  flushed  with  food  or 
wine,  vinoqiie  ciboque  gravatus,  will  play  his 
best. 

Although  many  of  the  best  players  play  high, 
the  highest  players  are  by  no  means  uniformly 
the  best.  It  was  stated  from  melancholy  expe- 
rience by  De  Quincey,  that  opium-eating  in  the 
earlier  stages  produces  none  of  the  beneficial 
or  pleasurable  effects  ;  not  till  it  has  grown 
into  a  habit  does  the  inspiring  or  soothing  in- 
fluence begin.  It  is  the  same  with  high  play, 
which  unduly  excites  and  agitates  for  a  season  ; 
although,  if  the  purse  and  constitution  hold 
out,  it  has  been  known  to  sharpen  the  obser- 
vation and  concentrate  the  attention  to  the 
utmost  point  which  the  player's  natural  capa- 
bilities enable  him  to  reach.  But  this  turning 
a  relaxation  and  a  pleasure  into  a  business  and 


92  Mbist  IKluggets 


a  toil,  is  to  be  deprecated,  not  recommended ; 
and  a  wise  man  (pecuniar)-  considerations  apart) 
would  ratlier  give  up  whist  altogether,  than  be 
compelled  to  play  it  under  the  implied  condi- 
tion that  he  was  to  keep  his  mind  eternally 
upon  the  strain.  It  was  this  consideration  pos- 
sibly that  drove  Charles  James  Fox  to  hazard, 
although  he  boasted  that  he  could  gain  ^4,000 
a  year  at  whist  if  he  chose  to  set  about 
it.  Major  Aubrey,  who  had  tried  both,  de- 
clared that  the  greatest  pleasure  in  life  was 
winning  at  whist, — the  next  greatest  pleasure, 
losing. 

Women,  particularly  3-oung  women,  should 
never  play  for  sums  which  it  is  inconvenient  to 
them  to  lose  ;  and  a  sum  which  is  immaterial 
to  a  man  of  independent  means  may  create  an 
alarming  deficit  in  a  female  budget  dependent 
on  an  allowance  of  pin-money.  The  feminine 
organization  is  opposed  to  their  ever  getting 
beyond  the  excitable  perturbed  fluttered  stage  : 
their  hands  may  be  read  in  their  faces  ;  they 
play  recklessly  to  shorten  the  torment  of  sus- 
pense ;  and  it  is  fortunate  if,  along  with  their 


imbiet  aiiD  'Mbiet^^ia^cvs         93 

money,  they  do  not  lose  both  their  temper  and 
their  good  looks  : 

"  And  one  degrading  hour  of  sordid  fear, 
Stamp  in  a  night  the  wrinkles  of  a  year. ' ' 

The  charge  of  comparative  disregard  of  truth 

which  the  male  sex,  with  or  without   reason, 

are  wont  to  bring  against  the  female,  derives 

plausibility"  from  an  effect  stated  by  Byron  : 

"  The  pretty  creatures  fib  with  such  a  g'race, 
There's  nothing  so  becoming  to  the  face.'' 

Upon  this  principle  they  should  .certainly 
avoid  high  play  at  any  game,  for  there  is  noth- 
ing so  ?^;/becoming  to  the  face.  Hogarth's 
print  of  T/ie  Lady's  Lost  Stake  suggests  an- 
other danger,  which  is  also  hinted  at  in  The 
Provoked  Husband  : 

''Lord  Townley  :  'Tis  not  your  ill  hours  that  always 
disturb  me,  but  as  often  the  ill  company  that  occasion 
these  hours. 

''Lady  To7unley  :  Sure,  I  don't  understand  you  now, 
my  lord.     What  ill  company  do  I  keep  ? 

"  Lord  Toivnley  :  Whj^,  at  best,  women  that  lose  their 
money,  and  men  that  win  it ;  or  perhaps  men  that  are 
voluntary  bubbles  at  one  game  in  hopes  a  lady  will  give 
them  fair  play  at  another. ' ' 

When  whist  is  merely  taken  up  as  one  of  the 
weapons   of  coquetry,   there  is  no   great   mis- 


94  'Mhiet  mu^gets 

chief  to  be  apprehended  ;  although  icarfS  or 
chess  would  seem  more  suited  to  the  purpose, 
and  give  better  hope  of  a  situation  like  that  of 
Ferdinand  and  Miranda.  "Sweet  lord,  you 
play  me  false,"  is  ill  replaced  by  "  Sweet  lady, 
you  have  revoked." 

Henri  Beyle  (Stendhal),  musing  over  an 
interrupted  liaison  and  a  lost  illusion,  ex- 
claims :  "After  all,  her  conduct  is  rational. 
She  was  fond  of  whist.  She  is  fond  of  it  no 
longer  :  so  much  the  worse  for  me  if  I  am  still 
fond  of  whist."  So  much  the  better  for  him, 
as  he  had  still  an  inexhaustible  resource  ;  and 
he  would  have  gained  nothing  by  abandoning 
it.  She  was  no  longer  fond  of  whist,  because 
she  was  no  longer  fond  of  him. 

It  is  a  common  fallacy,  mischievously  rife 
amongst  the  fair  sex,  that  without  the  gift  of 
extraordinary  memon,-,  it  is  impossible  to  be- 
come a  good  whist-player  ;  the  fact  being  that 
memory  has  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  real 
understanding  or  finest  points  of  the  game. 
What,  for  instance,  has  memory  to  do  with  the 
opening  lead,  which  has  the  same  relative  im- 


Timbl6t  an&  Mbl0t*iplasers         95 


portance  that  Lord  Ivyndhurst  attributed  to  the 
opening  speech  in  a  cause  ?  What  has  memory 
to  do  with  trumping  or  not  trumping  a  doubtful 
card  ;  or  with  returning  the  best  with  three  and 
the  lowest  with  four  ;  or  with  returning  the 
trump  lead  immediately  ;  or  with  answering 
the  call  for  trumps  ;  or  with  taking  the  trick 
that  wins  or  saves  the  game  ;  or  with  number- 
less emergencies  in  which  you  have  only  to 
look  at  your  hand,  the  tricks  on  the  table,  and 
the  score  ? 

Of  course  a  certain  number  of  rules  and  max- 
ims must  be  learnt ;  but  it  is  not  more  difficult 
to  learn  these  than  to  learn  the  Catechism  ;  and 
a  lady  might  as  reasonabl}^  complain  that  she 
could  not  become  a  good  Christian  for  want  of 
memory,  as  that  she  could  not  become  a  good 
whist-player  by  reason  of  that  defect ;  which, 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  is  purely  imaginarj-. 
People  remember  well  enough  what  they  care 
to  remember,  or  what  fixes  their  attention  by 
interesting  them.  This  depends  on  character, 
habits,  and  powers  of  appreciation.  Whilst 
the  man  of  cultivated  taste  and  fine  sense  of 


96  TlClbist  muggets 

humor  is  laying  up  a  stock  of  choice  anecdotes 
and  fine  passages,  an  old  maid  in  a  country 
town  will  be  growing  into  the  living  chronicle 
of  all  the  scandalous  gossip  of  the  last  fifty 
years,  complaining  all  the  time  of  her  memory. 
The  measures  are  the  same,  but  the  one  is  filled 
with  pearls  of  price,  and  the  other  with  glass 
beads  and  knicknackery.  The  discriminating 
reminiscent,  instead  of  being  en\'ied  for  memor}-, 
should  be  commended  for  refined  observation, 
judgment,  quickness  of  perception,  and  apropos. 
Alleged  forgetfulness  at  whist,  as  in  most 
other  things,  is  far  more  frequently  inattention 
than  forgetfulness.  The  fall  of  the  cards  has 
not  been  watched,  and  the  proper  inferences 
have  not  been  drawn  at  the  moment.  A  player 
cannot  be  said  to  have  forgotten  what  he  never 
knew.  If,  for  example,  at  the  end  of  a  second 
round,  he  had  clearly  drawn  the  inference  that 
the  best  card  remained  with  one  adversary  and 
that  the  other  had  no  more  of  the  suit,  this 
state  of  things  would  suggest  itself  naturally 
and  without  any  effort  when  the  suit  was 
played  again  : 


mbfst  anD  iraibl8t*ipla^ers         97 


"  with  care  [says  Mr.  Clay]  and  with  his  eyes  never 
wandering  from  the  table,  each  day  will  add  to  the  indi- 
cations which  he  will  observe  and  understand.  He  will 
find  that  mere  memory  has  less  to  do  with  whist  than 
he  imagines,  that  it  matters  little  whether  the  five  or 
the  six  is  the  best  card  left  of  a  suit,  as  long  as  he 
knows,  which  he  generally  ought  to  know,  who  has 
that  best  card.  Memory  and  observation  will  become 
mechanical  to  him,  and  cost  him  little  effort,  and  all 
that  remains  for  him  to  do  will  be  to  calculate  at  his 
ease  the  best  way  of  playing  his  own  and  his  partner's 
hands,  in  many  cases  as  if  he  saw  the  greater  portion 
of  the  cards  laid  face  upwards  on  the  table.  He  will 
then  be  a  fine  whist-player." 

Without  being  a  fine  whist-player,  he  may 
be  a  capital  second-rate,  a  thoroughly  reliable 
partner,  and  one  with  whom  no  one  can  be 
dissatisfied  to  sit  down.  This  is  the  grand 
point,  and  this  (we  repeat)  may  be  attained 
with  no  more  than  the  average  amount  of  mem- 
ory with  which  men  and  women  manage  to  get 
on  creditably  through  life.  One  of  the  con- 
fessedly best  London  whist-players  is  below 
the  average  in  this  particular.  Nor  will  cal- 
ling him  so  appear  paradoxical  to  any  who 
accept  M.  Deschapelles'  division  : 

"  We  will  suppose  a  parabola  described  by  a  bombshell, 
of  which  the  culminating  point  shall  be  the  seventh 


98  mbf5t  muggets 

trick.  On  this  side,  it  is  invention  which  holds  sway  ; 
on  the  other,  it  is  calculation.  Attention  and  memory 
are  at  the  base,  whilst  sagacity,  seated  at  the  top, 
distributes  the  work,  calls  by  turns  on  the  organs 
that  are  to  complete  it,  excites  and  circumscribes 
their  efforts,  and  assigns  them  at  the  appointed  mo- 
ment the  repose  necessary  to  the  restoration  of  their 
strength.  *  *  *  When  there  are  no  more  than  five  or 
six  cards  remaining  in  the  hand,  the  fine  and  delicate 
faculties  of  intelligence  have  resigned  and  repose. 
Mathematical  calculation  is  at  the  helm  :  the  simplest 
calculation  disengaged  from  the  unknown.  Then  it 
is  that  the  most  commonplace  player  is  entitled  to 
claim  equality  with  the  finest ;  it  is  a  property  which 
he  has  acquired  bj'  his  labor  ;  the  elements  of  it  are 
open  to  all  the  world.  They  are  beyond  the  domain  of 
the  aristocracy  of  the  brain  and  the  susceptibility  of 
the  organs  ;  beyond  that  of  poetry  and  imagination  ; 
but  they  are  open  to  all,  like  the  right  to  breathe  and 
speak  good  prose  i  *  *  *  with  regard  to  sagacity, 
how  do  you  know  that  you  are  wanting  in  it?  Do  but 
apply  your  mind  to  the  matter  in  hand,  age  quod  agis, 
and  you  will  see  that  you  have  as  much  as  another.  I 
can  give  as  proof  the  manner  in  which  people  lead  at 
present ;  even  at  our  weakest  parties,  I  am  surprised 
to  see  that  it  is  almost  alwaj-s  the  right  card  that  is  led. 
This  is  owing  to  our  grande  tactique,  with  which  every 
one  is  imbued." 

The  £'ra?ide  tactique  is  the  strong  or  long-suit 
system  ;  with  which,  we  regret  to  say,  every 
one  is  not  imbued  amongst  us,  or  we  should  not 
so  frequently  hear,  at  the  end  of  a  long,  puzzled, 
and  unreflecting  pause,  "  I  really  do  not  know 


•QGlbist  an&  MbistsHMa^crs         99 


what  to  lead."  The  lad)^  or  gentleman  who 
habitually  indulges  in  this  apostrophe,  had 
better  say  at  once,  "  I  really  do  not  know 
how  to  play." 

Kvery  civilized  country  has  had  its  Augustan 
age  or  ages.  We  have  had  our  Elizabethan  age, 
our  age  of  Queen  Anne,  and  what  was  also  an 
Augustan  age,  though  yet  unnamed — the  age 
when  Byron,  Moore,  Scott,  Wordsworth, 
Coleridge,  Rogers,  Sydney  Smith,  Plallam, 
Brougham,  Canning,  etc.,  were  the  central  fig- 
ures of  the  group.  On  its  being  recently  re- 
marked that  there  was  nothing  now  coming  on 
to  replace  what  must  be  soon  passing  away — 
that  almost  all  the  highest  reputations  in  all 
walks  are  of  full  twenty  years'  standing  or 
more ;  that  we  have  no  rising  poets,  artists,  nov- 
elists, or  orators, — "  No ! ' '  exclaimed  a  far-famed 
beauty  and  wit,  "  and  no  lady-killers  such  as  I 
remember  in  my  heyday,  before  whom  one  felt 
bound  to  succumb,  as  the  belles  of  the  Spectator 
succumbed  to  Beau  Fielding,  when  he  said  of 
them  :  '  EHes  tombent  comme  des  mouches.'  " 
Our  fair  friend,  who  is  also  a  competent  judge 


Timbist  IRuggeta 


on  this  subject,  might  have  added  :  "  And  no 
rising  whist-players  of  the  first  class  ;  not  one 
under  middle  age,  who  has  given  proofs  of 
undisputed  genius." 

A  master  of  the  art  who  has  survived  a  gen- 
eration, was  recently  asked  who  were  the  best 
whist-players  he  ever  knew.  He  instantly 
named  three  :  the  late  Earl  Granville,  the  Hon. 
George  Anson,  and  Henry  Lord  de  Roos.  On 
being  asked  for  the  fourth  he  paused,  but  there 
was  no  need  of  hesitation  :  "  Ed  io  anche  sono 
pittore."  No  one  would  have  accused  him  of  un- 
due assumption  if  he  had  followed  the  example 
of  Lamartine,  who,  on  being  asked  who  was  the 
first  living  French  poet,  drew  himself  up  with 
an  air  of  offended  dignity,  and  replied,  "  Moi," 
The  palm  is  popularly  considered  to  lie  between 
Lord  Henry  Bentinck  and  Mr.  Clay ;  whose 
styles  are  so  essentially  different  that  an  in- 
structive parallel  might  be  drawn  between  them 
after  the  manner  of  Plutarch. 

The  de  Roos  affair  was  a  sad  blow  and  a  tem- 
porary discredit  to  whist-players,  for  some  of 
them  were  unluckily  seduced  into  acting  on  the 


TKabist  anC>  Mbistsjpla^ers        loi 


late  Lord  Hertford's  maxim:  "What  would 
you  do  if  you  saw  a  man  cheating  at  cards?  " 
"Bet  upon  him,  to  be  sure."  Lord  de  Roos' 
methods  of  aiding  his  skill  were  only  available 
for  one  hand  in  four — when  he  dealt.  He  then 
contrived  to  turn  an  honor  by  what  is  called 
sautcr  le  coup,  and  having  marked  the  higher 
honors  with  his  nail,  he  could  see  to  whom  they 
fell.  During  the  burst  of  scandalous  comment 
which  followed  the  exposure,  one  of  the  "  bitter 
fools"  of  society,  who  had  never  been  admitted 
to  his  intimacy,  drawled  out  at  Crockford's  : 
"I  would  leave  my  card  at  his  house,  but  I 
fear  he  would  mark  it."  The  retort  was  ready: 
"That  would  depend  on  whether  he  considered 
\t  3.  high  h.onor.'"  This  repartee,  popularly  as- 
signed to  Lord  Alvanley — on  ne  prete  qii'aiix 
riches — was  made  by  Charles  Kinnaird  Sheridan 
(the  brother  of  the  three  gifted  sisters  of  the 
race),  whose  untimely  and  deeply  regretted 
death,  in  the  bloom  of  his  brilliant  youth,  was 
a  memeiito  inori  which  not  the  gayest  or  most 
thoughtless  of  his  gay  contemporaries  could 
speedily  shake  off. 


102  Mblst  Iftuggets 


"  Manibus  date  lilia  plenis  : 
Purpureos  spargam  flores,  animaruque  nepotis 
His  saltern  accumulem  donis,  et  fungar  inani 
Munere." 

There  is  a  well  authenticated  story  of  Lord 
Granville's  devotion  to  whist.  Intending  to  set 
out  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon  for  Pains,  he 
ordered  his  carriage  and  four  posters  to  be  at 
Graham's  at  four.  They  were  kept  waiting  till 
ten,  when  he  sent  out  to  say  that  he  should 
not  be  ready  for  another  hour  or  two  and  that 
the  horses  had  better  be  changed  ;  they  were 
changed  three  times  in  all,  at  interv^als  of  six 
hours,  before  he  started.  WTien  the  party  rose, 
they  were  up  to  their  ankles  in  cards,  and  the 
ambassador  (it  was  reported)  was  a  loser  to  the 
tune  of  eight  or  ten  thousand  pounds.  About 
this  time  there  was  a  set  at  Brookes'  (Lord 
Sefton,  an  excellent  player,  being  one)  who 
played  hundred-guinea  points  besides  bets.  We 
still  occasionally  hear  of  ^300  and  ^500  on  the 
rubber,  but  five -pound  points  are  above  the 
average  ;  and  many  of  the  best  players  are  con- 
tent with  two-pound  points  (ten,  bet)  at  the 
Arlijigton,  and  half  pounds  at  the  Portland.     A 


Mbi0t  an&  'mbieU^l^^cvB        103 


great  deal  of  money  is  turned  on  the  five  to  two 
(really  nearer  three  to  one)  bet  on  the  rubber 
after  the  first  game. 

In  Paris  (where  the  rubber  counts  four)  the 
points  are  comparatively  low,  much  in  our 
opinion  to  the  detriment  of  the  game.  During 
the  period  comprised  in  M.  Louis  Blanc's 
Histowe  des  Dix  Afis,  the  stakes  at  the  Cercle 
de  r  Union  were  such  that  Count  Achille  Dela- 
marre  calculated  his  average  rubber  at  20olouis. 
There,  and  afterwards  at  the  Jockey  Club,  the 
level  rate  was  two  louis  and  ten  bet,  but  the 
large  ad  libitiivi  bets  became  so  general  that  any 
one  who  cut  in  without  joining  in  them  was 
looked  upon  as  an  interloper.  The  principal 
players  at  the  Union  were  Lord  Granville  (the 
English  ambassador).  Count  Meden  (the  Russian 
ambassador),  Comte  Walewski,  the  Due  de 
Richelieu,  General  Michelski,  Comte  Descha- 
pelles  (the  author),  Comte  Achille  Delamarre, 
and  M.  Bonpierre  ;  the  three  last,  with  Lord 
Granville,  being  esteemed  the  best  of  the  lot. 
Amongst  the  best  Parisian  players  who  have 
subsequently  come  into  the  field  (of  green  cloth), 


104  lUIlbist  IFluciactS 


are  Vicomle  Paul  Daru,  Comte  d'Albon,  Comte 
d'Andlau,  Comte  de  Malart,  Vicomte  Ladislas 
de  St.-Pierre,  and  his  brother  M.  Maurice  de  St- 
Pierre.  The  highest  play  during  the  last  two 
or  three  years  has  been  at  the  Petit  Club  de  la 
Rue  Royale,  where  it  ranges  from  i  and  30,  or  i 
and  50,  up  to  or  about  i  and  100  louis  ;  the 
points  being  stationary  and  the  bets  fluctuating. 
The  scale  of  play  has  been  recently  raised 
above  the  usual  level  at  Paris  by  the  very  high 
play  at  baccarat,  at  which  ^16,000  has  been  lost 
by  one  person  in  one  night. 

There  used  to  be  high  play  at  Berlin  and 
Vienna.  Count  Palfy  won  enough  at  a  single 
sitting  of  Prince  John  of  Lichtenstein  to  build 
and  furnish  a  chateau.  It  was  shown  to  the 
loser,  who  on  being  asked  how  he  liked  it,  re- 
plied: "  Pas  du  tout ;  cela  a  tout  a  fait  Pair  d'un 
chateau  de  cartes."  Count  Briihl  wrote  a  treatise 
on  whist,  which,  we  regret  to  say,  we  have  been 
unable  to  procure  in  time  for  this  article.  There 
is  a  current  anecdote  of  Count  Rechberg,  late 
Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  in  Austria,  which 
justifies  a  surmise  that  he  also  is  a  proficient. 


mbi6t  anO  Mbi»t==iIMascr6         105 


His  left-hand  adversary  ( proh  pudor  au 
Englishman)  made  so  desperate  though  suc- 
cessful a  finesse,  that  his  Excellency  uttered  an 
exclamation  of  surprise  ;  whereupon  the  gentle- 
man offered  a  bet  that  the  Count  himself  should 
acknowledge  that  he  had  a  sound  reason  for 
his  play.  It  was  taken,  and  he  then  coolly 
said:  "Why,  I  looked  over  your  hand." 
This  gentleman  must  have  graduated  under  the 
Artful  Dodger,  who,  when  playing  dummy  in 
Pagan's  den,  is  commended  for  ''  wisely  regu- 
lating his  play  by  the  result  of  his  observations 
on  his  neighbors'  cards." 

Some  thirty  years  since  a  remarkable  set 
used  to  meet  in  Berlin  at  Prince  Wittgenstein's, 
including  Count  Alopeus,  the  Russian  Minister, 
General  Nostitz,  Sir  Henry  Bulwer  (then  at- 
tached to  the  Berlin  embassy),  and  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland  (afterwards  King  of  Hanover), 
Another  of  the  royal  family,  the  late  Duke  of 
York,  played  whist  a  great  deal  and  lost  a 
great  deal  of  money  at  it,  as  well  he  might,  for 
he  invariably  showed  whether  he  was  satisfied 
or  dissatisfied  with  his  cards,  and  played  them 


To6  mbiSt  nUQQCtS 

indifferently  into  the  bargain.  He  played  pony 
points  (^25)  and  fifty  bet,  making  the  full  or 
bumper  rubber  ^250,  One  evening,  having 
won  three  full  rubbers  of  a  wealthy  parveJiu. 
he  was  reluctantly  reminded  that  there  was  a 
prior  loss  of  some  four  thousand  pounds  to  be 
set  off.  "No,  no,"  he  protested,  "that  will 
never  do.  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  old 
scores  "  ;  and  the  man  was  fool  enough  to  pay. 
There  is  no  royal  road  to  whist,  and  as  royal 
personages  with  the  best  natural  dispositions 
rarely  submit  to  be  taught,  it  is  fortunate  that 
the  kingly  power  has  been  limited  since  Canute, 
who  had  a  courtier  hanged  for  checkmating 
him,  and  would  doubtless  have  had  him  hanged, 
drawn,  and  quartered  for  claiming  a  revoke  at 
whist.  This  great  and  wise  king  had  evidently 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  occasional 
execution  of  a  courtier  pour  eucourager  les 
autres  inculcated  a  moral  more  practically  than 
getting  wet  feet  through  the  disobedience  of 
the  waves. 

When  Napoleon  was  at  Wiirtemberg,    "he 
used  to  play  whist  in  the  evening,  but  not  for 


Iimbist  anD  Mbistsplagers        107 


money,  playing  ill  and  inattentively.  One 
evening  when  the  queen  dowager  was  playing 
with  him  against  her  husband  and  his  daughter 
(the  Queen  of  Westphalia,  the  wife  of  Jerome), 
the  King  stopped  Napoleon,  who  was  taking  up 
a  trick  that  belonged  to  them,  saying  :  '  Sire, 
on  ne  joue  pas  ici  en  conquerant'  "  - 

It  must  be  admitted  as  a  partial  excuse  for 
absolutism  in  such  matters,  that  the  spirit  of 
play  absorbs  or  deadens  every  other  thought 
and  feeling.  Horace  Walpole  relates  that,  on 
a  man  falling  down  in  a  fit  before  the  bay  win- 
dow of  White's,  odds  were  instantly  ofi"ered 
and  taken  to  a  large  amount  against  his  recov- 
erj',  and  that,  on  its  being  proposed  to  bleed 
him,  the  operation  was  vehemently  resisted  as 

*  Diaries  of  the  Lady  of  Quality,  second  edition,  p. 
1 28.  Frederic  the  Great  was  in  the  habit  of  kicking 
the  shins  of  the  savans  who  ventured  to  differ  from  him. 
When  Peter  the  Great  was  on  a  visit  of  inspection  on 
board  an  English  line-of-battle  ship  at  Portsmouth,  he 
expressed  a  wish  to  witness  the  operation  of  keel- 
hauling;  which  consists  in  dragging  the  subject  under 
water  from  one  side  of  the  ship  to  the  other  by  means 
of  a  rope  passed  under  the  keel.  He  was  told  that  this 
was  contrary  to  law,  so  far  as  Englishmen  were  con- 
cerned. "  If  that  is  all,  you  can  take  one  of  my  suite," 
was  his  unconcerned  rejoinder.  It  would  be  pleasing  to 
watch  the  countenance  of  Sir  Edward  Cust,  or  General 
Grey,  or  one  of  the  Lords  in  Waiting,  when  told  off  for 
such  an  experiment  by  our  gracious  Sovereign. 


io8  mbist  muaaets 

unfair.  When  Lord  Thanet  was  in  the  Tower 
for  the  O'Connor  riot,  three  friends  were  ad- 
mitted to  play  whist  with  him,  and  remain  till 
the  lock-up  hour  of  eleven.  Early  in  the  sit- 
ting his  partner  fell  back  in  a  fit  of  apoplexj^, 
and  one  of  the  party  rose  to  call  for  help. 
"Stop,"  cried  another,  "we  shall  be  turned 
out  if  you  make  a  noise  ;  let  our  friend  alone 
till  eleven  ;  we  can  play  dummy,  and  he  '11  be 
none  the  worse,  for  I  can  read  death  in  his 
face." 

The  profession  of  medicine  has  turned  out 
some  good  whist-players.  Three  celebrated 
physicians,  being,  like  the  surgeons  in  Zeluco, 
at  a  loss  how  to  fill  up  the  time  it  was  thought 
decent  to  occupy  on  the  case  of  a  noble  patient, 
set  to  at  dummy.  The  patient,  if  there  had 
really  been  much  the  matter  with  him,  would 
have  found  himself  in  the  predicament  of  the 
survivor  of  the  Horatii  : 

"  Que  vouliez-vous  qu'il  fit  contre  trois  ? 

Qu'il  mourflt." 

The  clergy,  especially  in  the  West  of  Eng- 
land, were  formerly  devoted  to  whist.     About 


Wblst  anO  MbtstsiplaBcrs        109 


the  beginning  of  the  century  there  was  a  whist 
club  in  a  country  town  of  Somersetshire,  com- 
posed mostly  of  clergymen,  that  met  every 
Sunday  evening  in  the  back  parlor  of  a  barber. 
Four  of  these  were  acting  as  pall-bearers  at  the 
funeral  of  a  reverent  brother,  when  a  delay 
occurred,  from  the  grave  not  being  ready,  or 
some  other  cause,  and  the  coflBn  was  set  down 
in  the  chancel.  By  way  of  whiling  away  the 
time,  one  of  them  produced  a  pack  of  cards 
from  his  pocket  and  proposed  a  rubber.  The 
rest  gladly  assented,  and  they  were  deep  in 
their  game,  using  the  coffin  as  their  table, 
when  the  sexton  came  to  announce  that  the 
preparations  were  complete.  We  have  care- 
fully verified  the  fact  that  they  played  long 
whist,  and  we  suspect  that  whist  has  been  less 
popular  in  the  church  since  the  introduction 
of  short,  by  reason  of  its  inferior  gravity.  The 
principle  is  indicated  by  Sydney  vSmith  in  his 
qualified  defence  of  angling.  "  I  give  up  fly- 
fishing ;  it  is  a  light,  volatile,  dissipated  pur- 
suit. But  ground-bait,  with  a  good  steady 
float  that  never  bobs  without  a  bite,  is  an  occu- 


"Mbist  1Plu9Qet6 


pation  for  a  bishop,  and  in  no  way  interferes 
with  sermon-making." 

We  have  seen  short  whist  played  by  a  mem- 
ber of  the  episcopal  body,  and  a  very  eminent 
one,  the  venerable  Bishop  of  Exeter  (Phill- 
potts),  one  adversary  being  the  late  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's  (Milman),  the  other  an  American  diplo- 
matist, and  his  partner  a  distinguished  for- 
eigner whose  whist  is  hardly  on  a  par  with  his 
scientific  acquirements  and  social  popularity. 
The  two  dignitaries  played  a  steady,  sound 
orthodox  game.  The  Bishop  bore  a  run  of  ill 
luck  like  a  Christian  and  a  bishop,  but  when 
(after  the  diplomatist  had  puzzled  him  by  a 
false  card)  the  Count  lost  the  game  by  not 
returning  his  trump,  the  excellent  prelate 
looked  on  the  verge  of  bringing  the  rubber  to  a 
conclusion  as  he  once  brought  a  controversy 
with  an  archbishop,  namely,  bj^  the  bestowal 
of  his  blessing ;  which  the  archbishop,  appar- 
ently apprehensive  of  its  acting  by  the  rule  of 
contraries,  earnestly  entreated  him  to  take 
back. 

The  famous  "  Billy  Butler,"  vicar  of  Framp- 


•QClbist  anO  limbist'iplaBcrtJ        m 

ton,  got  the  offer  of  a  rich  piece  of  preferment 
by  finding  a  fox  in  the  "open"  when  the 
Prince  of  Wales  (afterwards  George  IV.)  was 
anxious  for  an  easy  run.  Many  a  good  living 
has  been  gained  by  whist-playing,  this  being 
considered  an  indispensable  qualification  by 
discerning  patrons  (lay  and  episcopal)  in  the 
olden  time.  Our  own  opinion  is  that,  if  the 
spirit  of  the  times  no  longer  admits  of  its  being 
exacted  in  candidates  for  holy  orders,  the  being 
well  up  in  Cavendish  or  Clay  should  command 
a  handsome  number  of  marks  in  all  competitive 
examinations,  civil  and  military.  We  throw 
out  this  suggestion  for  the  serious  consideration 
of  the  Cabinet  ;  especially  of  Mr.  Gladstone, 
Mr.   Bright,   and  Mr.  Tyowe. 

Abraham  Hayward, 

in  Fraser's  Magazine- 


^^jNCnZ/uC)^ 


THE  THIRTY-NINE  ARTICLES  OF 
WHIST.* 

T^HE  following  Rules  of  Whist  are  based  on 
^  the  principle  of  American  Leads  as  devel- 
oped by  "Cavendish,"  and  Mr.  X.  B.  Trist,  of 
New  Orleans,  and  are  compiled  for  players  who 
have  some  knowledge  of  the  game.  The  chief 
features  of  the  American  Leads  are  as  follows  : 
I.  A  low  card  led  indicates  three  cards  higher 
than  the  one  led.  2.  A  high  card  led,  followed 
by  a  low  one,  indicates  two  cards  remaining, 
higher  than  the  second  card  led.  3.  A  high 
card  led,  followed  by  another  high  card,  always 
gives  some  information  as  to  the  number  of 
cards  in  the  suit :  sometimes  the  exact  number. 

ORIGINAI.  I.EADS. 
I.  The  best  tactics  at  Whist  aim  at  establishing  a  long 
suit,  in  order  to  bring    in   the  remaining  cards  after 
*  By  the  courtesy  of  Richard  Irving  Dunbar. 
112 


XLbc  ^bfrts*ntne  Brticles  of  'QClbist   113 


trumps  have  been  exhausted.  Therefore  the  original 
lead  should  be  from  the  longest  suit,  unless  that  suit  be 
of  four  cards  only,  headed  by  one  lower  than  the  Nine. 

2.  The  lead  of  the  AC:^  indicates  length  (that  is,  at 
least  five  cards),  or  Queen-Knave.  Always  lead  Ace 
with  more  than  four  in  suit,  except  with  head  sequence. 

If  you  have  already  trumped,  however,  always 
lead  Ace  with  Ace-King,  irrespective  of  length.  If 
your  partner  be  short,  he  might  trump  in  order  to 
establish  a  cross-ruff. 

3.  The  KING  indicates  Ace  or  Queen  (or  both),  and 
never  more  than  four  in  the  suit. 

4.  The  QUEEN  indicates  Ace-King  and  length,  King 
and  length,  or  the  head  of  a  sequence. 

5.  The  KNAVE  indicates  sequence  to  King  or  Ace. 
with  length  ;  or  the  highest  of  a  short  suit. 

6.  The  TEN  indicates  King  and  Knave,  with  or  with- 
out the  Nine  ;  or  the  highest  of  a  short  suit. 

7.  In  all  other  cases  the  FOURTH-BEST  is  led. 

8.  If  you  open  a  long  suit  after  trumps  have  been 
exhausted,  usually  lead  as  in  trumps  {q.  v.). 

9.  Should  the  long  suit  be  of  four  cards  headed  by  one 
lower  than  the  Nine,  open  the  best  three-card  suit,  one 
in  sequence  if  possible  ;  generally  leading  the  highest, 
except  when  holding  a  Tenace  ;  or  Ace  and  Knave  ;  or 
Ace,  King,  or  Queen,  as  the  only  high  card :  then  lead 
the  lowest. 

Always  lead  the  highest  of  a  short  suit,  if  the 
previous  play  has  shown  it  to  be  your  partner's 
long  suit. 


114  Mbist  mugciets 

SUBSEQUENT  LEADS. 

10.  If  following  up  original  lead,  usually  play  the 
desi  card. 

11.  If  without  the  besi  card,  follow  with  original 
fourth-best,  unless  having  held  originally  three  or 
more  high  cards  :  then  lead  one  of  the  remaining  high 
cards. 

But,  with  King-Queen  and  length,   if  the  Queen 
win,  follow  with  fourth-best  of  the  remai7iing'c2,x^s. 

12.  After  leading  a  high  card,  if  left  with  two  or 
three  high  cards  that  are  "indifferent"  (that  is,  of 
equal  trick-taking  value),  show  length  in  suit  by  lead- 
ing the  lower;  e.  g.,  (a)  with  Ace-Queen-Knave,  lead 
Ace  and  follow  with  Queen  if  having  held  originally 
three  or  four  ;  and  with  Knave  if  having  held  five  or 
more ;  (b)  with  King-Queen-Knave  and  length,  lead 
Knave  <  even  if  one  of  the  other  cards  be  the  Ten) ; 
follow  with  King  if  having  held  five  ;  with  Queen  if 
having  held  six  or  more. 

13.  The  Ace  as  a  secondarj-  lead,  followed  bj'  the 
King,  indicates  no  more  in  the  suit  and  a  desire  to  ruff. 

TRUMP  LEADS. 

14.  The  best  use  to  which  you  can  put  a  strong  trump 
suit  is  to  play  it  out,  to  remove  the  only  obstacle  to 
making  tricks  in  the  long  plain  suits. 

15.  With  seven  or  more  trumps,  usually  lead  as  in 
plain  suits.      With  less  than  seven,   lead  the  fourth- 


XLbc  ^birts*nine  Brticles  of  limbist   115 


best,  unless  with  at  least  three  honors.    Exceptions  : 

(a)  with  King-Queen-Ten  and  two  or  more  small  cards, 

lead  Queen  ;  if  without  the  Ten,  lead  fourth-best,  unless 

with  seven  in  the  suit;  (b)  lead  the  highest  of  a  sequence, 

headed  by  Queen  or  Knave,  regardless  of  length. 

The  turn-up  card  ma3'^  also  modify  the  lead.  And, 
of  course,  you  may  finesse  more  deeply  in  trumps 
than  in  plain  suits." 

16.  Make  trumps  your  original  lead,  having  five  or 
more,  even  if  without  an  honor,  except  when  void  in  a 
suit  or  with  a  singleton.  But,  with  five  small  trumps,  a 
moderate  plain  suit,  and  no  high  cards  in  the  other 
suits,  it  is  better  to  lead  from  the  long  plain  suit,  unless 
your  partner  has  shown  strength. 

17.  Rarely  lead  from  a  suit  of  four  trumps  unless  very 
strong  in  other  suits,  or  with  three  cards  in  each,  or 
until  you  have  established  a  suit. 

Be  cautious  in  leading  trumps  if  your  adversaries 
have  also  established  a  suit.  Under  these  condi- 
tions, success  will  follow  the  side  that  first  forces 
the  strong  hand. 

Should  your  first  lead  be  after  an  adversary  has 
established  a  long  strong  suit,  or  after  your  partner 
has  opened  a  four-card  or  weak  long  suit,  generally 
do  not  lead  trumps,  even  if  strong  in  them,  but  try 
to  utilize  your  partner's  trumps  by  forcing  him. 

18.  lyCad  trumps,  when  weak  in  them,  only  when 
holding  commanding  strength  in  all  plain  suits,  or  to 
stop  a  cross-ruff.  But  having  a  very  poor  hand,  with 
the  score  against  you,  3—0  or  4 — o,  generally  lead 
trumps  :  for  unless  your  partner  has  a  strong  hand  the 
game  is  lost. 


ii6  *Uabi6t  IFluggcts 

RETURN  LEADS. 

19.  Usually  return  at  once  your  partner's  lead,  except 
(a)  when  j'ou  have  a  strong  suit  of  your  own  ;  (b)  when 
you  have  taken  the  trick  cheaply  ;  (c)  when  your  trump 
suit  is  strong  enough  to  warrant  opening  it. 

20.  Having  held  originally  three  cards  in  your  part- 
ner's suit,  return  the  higher  ;  having  held  more,  reiurn 
the  lowest. 

If  left  with  the  best  card,  however,  always  play  it ; 
or  if  with  second-  and  third-best,  always  return  the 
highest,  irrespective  of  length. 

PIvAY  OF  SECOND  HAND. 

21.  Usually  play  lowest  card,  second  hand. 

22.  Holding  cards  such  that  j-ou  would,  if  first  player, 
lead  high,  usually  play  high,  second  hand  ;  except  with 
Ace  and  four  small  cards.  Play  the  lowest  of  indifferent 
high  cards. 

23.  Holding  Ace,  Queen  and  more,  play  Queen  only 
when  Nine  or  Ten  is  led,  unless  very  long  in  suit  and 
weak  in  trumps. 

24.  Holding  Ace-Queen-Ten,  usually  play  Queen  when 
any  low  card  is  led  ;  except  in  trumps,  when  play  Ten. 

25.  Cover  an  honor  with  the  best  card  only,  unless  you 
hold  a  "  fourchette,"  i.  e.,  a  card  next  higher  and  one 
next  lower  than  the  card  led,  when  always  cover. 

26.  Holding  King  atid  one  small  card,  play  King  only 
when  Nine  is  led  ;  or  the  Bight,  when  your  small  card 
is  the  Nine. 


TLbc  trbirtgsnfne  Brttcles  of  Mbist   n? 


27.  Holding  Queen  and  one  small  card,  play  Queen 
only  when  Nine  or  Ten  is  led. 

28.  The  fourth-best  card  of  a  suit  being  led,  the  leader 

holds  three  cards  higher.     If  the  number  of  pips  on  the 

card  thus  led  be  subtracted  from  eleven,  the  remainder 

will  be  the  number  of  cards  out  against  the  leader, 

higher  than  the  card  led.     When  a  fourth-best  card  is 

led,  therefore,  if  the  number  of  pips  on  that  card  added 

to  the  number  of  higher  cards  held   by  you    makes 

eleven,  cover  with  the  lowest  of  the  high  cards,  since 

you  hold  all  the  high  cards  not  in  the  leader's  hand.* 

The  rule  is  the  same  when  Ace  is  led,  followed  by 
the  original  fourth -best. 

29.  Holding  best  card  in  the  second  round  of  a  suit, 
usually  play  it. 

PI.AY  OF  THIRD  HAND. 

30.  Generally  play  your  best  card  on  your  partner's 
original  lead. 

31.  But,  with  Ace  and  Queen,  play  Queen.  This  is  an 
imperative  7?«^55^ . 

32.  Never  play  Ace  on  partner's  lead  of  King  or 
Queen  ;  but  if  holding  only  one  other  card,  Ace  may  be 
played  on  Knave. 

■     33.  Rarely  play  Queen  on  j-our  partner's  lead  of  Nine, 
and  never  on  his  lead  of  Ten. 
34.  But  always  avoid  being  left  after  the  second-  round 

*  This  rule  was  first  worked  out  by  Mr.  R.  F.  Foster, 
of  New  York,  and  afterwards  independently  discovered 
by  Mr.  E.  F.  M.  Benecke,  of  Oxford,  England,  who  was 
the  first  to  make  it  public. 


i8  mbiBt  IRug^ets 


with  the  best  card  only  of  your  partner's  suit,  if  he  has 
shown  length  as  well  as  strength.  Therefore,  with 
three  cards  originally,  take  the  second  trick  ;  with  four 
cards,  retain  the  lowest  as  long  as  you  can. 

35.  Rarely  finesse  in  the  second  round,  holding  best 
and  third  best. 

THE  SIGNAI.. 

36.  When  you  wish  3-our  partner  to  lead  trumps, 
throw  an  unnecessarily  high  card  on  his  or  the  adver- 
sary's lead,  following  it  with  a  lower  card  when  ^-ou 
next  pla3'  a  card  of  the  same  suit. 

37.  In  answering  a  call  for  trumps,  lead  the  highest 
of  two  or  three  cards,  the  lowest  of  four  or  more  ;  imless 
holding  the  Ace,  which  should  alwajs  be  led. 

THE  ECHO. 

38.  When  your  partner  has  called  for  trumps  and  5'ou 
have  numerical  strength,  you  should  also  call  if  oppor- 
tunity oflfer.  If  you  trump  with  a  card  higher  than  that 
which  3'ou  afterward  play,  he  will  understand  that  you 
held  four  or  more  trumps  originally. 

THE  DISCARD. 

39.  The  original  discard  should  always  be  from  the 

weakest  suit,  unless  great  strength  in  trumps  has  been 

declared  against  you  ;    when   discard   from   j-our   best 

protected  suit.    This  rule  generally   holds  good  even 

if  your  partner  has  also  shown  strength  in  trumps. 

Remember  that  indication  of  suit  is  given  by  original 
discard  only. 


^be  trbirt)?sn(ne  Brticlcs  ot  "Wllbist   ng 

GENERAI,  REMARKS. 

A.  Endeavor  to  play  in  harmonj'  with  your  partner ; 
that  is,  never  consider  your  own  hand  as  separate  from 
his. 

B.  It  is  better  to  inform  your  partner  than  to  deceive 
your  adversary-  ;  therefore  rarely  play  a  false  card. 

C.  Your  first  object  should  be  to  save  the  game,  if  it 
appear  in  danger;  your  next  to  win  it,  if  you  have  a 
reasonable  chance  of  success. 

D.  Never  play  a  singleton  as  original  lead. 

E.  Rarely  force  your  partner  unless  you  hold  four 
trumps,  including  an  honor ;  or  unless  your  partner 
has  shown  weakness  in  trumps. 

F.  Force  the  adversary's  strong  trump  hand,  unless 
both  adversaries  have  renounced. 

G.  If  strong  in  trumps  rarely  trump  a  doubtful  card, 
but  trump  fearlessly  if  weak. 

H.  If  your  partner  refuse  to  trump  a  sure  winning 
card,  lead  trumps. 

I.  When  you  have  nothing  better  to  do,  lead  up  to  the 
weak,  or  through  the  strong  hand  of  the  adversary. 

J.  In  playing  for  the  odd  trick,  the  violation  of  estab- 
lished rules  is  sometimes  justifiable;  e.  g.,  leading  a 
singleton  ;  forcing  your  partner  when  weak  in  trumps  ; 
refraining  from  leading  trumps  when  verj'  strong ; 
refusing  iojinesse;  playing  a  false  card  ;  etc. 

Richard  Irving  Dunbar. 


X><^Oj^^ci&^ 


RHYMING      RULES,      MNEMONIC 

MAXIMS,  AND   POCKET 

PRECEPTS. 

BEING  SHORT  MEMORANDA  OF  IMPORTANT 
POINTS  TO  BE  KEPT  IN  MIND  BY  THOSE 
WHO  WOUI.D  PRACTISE  THE  MODERN  SCI- 
ENTIFIC  GAME  OF  WHIST. 

IF  you  the  modem  game  of  whist  would  know, 
From  this  great  principle  its  precepts  flow  : 
Treat  3-our  own  hand  as  to  your  partner's  joined, 
And  play,  not  one  alone,  but  both  cotnbijied. 

Your  first  lead  makes  3'our  partner  understand 
What  is  the  chief  component  of  your  hand  ; 
And  hence  there  is  necessity  the  strongest, 
That  your  Jirst  lead  be  from  your  suit  that's 
longest. 

120 


TRbgnilng  IRules 


In  this,  with  ace  and  king,  lead  king,  then  ace ; 

With  kiyig  and  quee7i,  king  also  has  first  place  ; 

With  ace,  queen,  kjiave,  lead  ace  and  then  the 
queen  ; 

With  ace,  four  small  ones,  ace  should  first  be 
seen  ; 

With  quee7i,  knave,  ten,  you  let  the  quee7i  pre- 
cede ; 

In  other  cases  you  the  lowest  lead. 

Ere  you  return  your  friend's,  your  ow7i  suit  plaj^ ; 
But  trumps  you  must  return  without  delay. 

When  you  return  your  partner's  lead,  take  pains 
To  lead  him  back  the  best  your  hand  contains, 
If  3-ou  received  not  more  than  three  at  first ; 
If  3'ou  had  more,  you  may  return  the  worst. 

But  if  3-0U  hold  the  tnaster  card  you  're  bound 
In  most  cases  to  play  it  second  round. 

Whene'er  you  want  a  lead,  'tis  seldom  wrong 
To  lead  7ip  to  the  weak,  or  through  the  strong. 

In  second  hand,  your  lowest  should  be  played, 
Unless  you  mean,  "  trump  signal  "  to  be  made  : 
Or  if  you've  kijig  and  quec7i,  or  ace  and  king, 
Then  one  of  these  will  be  the  proper  thing. 


122  Wibiet  t\\xQQCt6 


Mind  well  the  rules  for  trumps,    you'll  often 

need  them : 
When  you  hoi.d  five,  'tis  airways   right 

TO  lyEAD  THEM  ; 
Or  if  the  lead  won't  come  in  time  to  you, 
Then  signal  to  your  partner  so  to  do. 

Watch  also  for  your  partner's  trump  request, 
To  which,  with  less  than  four,  play  out  your  best. 

To  lead  through  honors  turned  up  is  bad  play, 
Unless  you  want  the  trump  suit  cleared  away. 

When,  second  hand,  a  doubtful  trick  you  see, 
DojiH  trump  it  if  you  hold  more  trumps  than 

three  ; 
But  having  three  or  less,  trump  fearlessly. 

WTien   weak   in   trumps   yourself,   don't   force 

your  friend, 
But  always  force  the  adverse  strong  trump  hand. 

For  sequences,  stern  custom  has  decreed 
The  lowest  you  must  play,  if  you  don't  lead. 

When   you  discard,  weak    suit   you    ought   to 

choose. 
For  strong  ones  are  too  valuable  to  lose. 

William  Pole. 


THE  DUFFKR'vS  WHIST  MAXIMS. 

"  Printed   for  the  benefit  of  families,  and  to  prevent 
scolding." — Bob  Short. 


I.  Do  not  confuse  your  mind  by  reading  a 
parcel  of  books.  Surely  you've  a  right  to  play 
your  own  game,  if  you  like.  Who  are  the  peo- 
ple that  wrote  these  books?  What  business 
have  they  to  set  up  their  views  as  superior  to 
yours?  Many  of  these  writers  lay  down  this 
rule:  "Lead  originally  from  your  strongest 
suit "  ;  don't  j'ou  do  it,  unless  it  suits  your  hand. 
It  may  be  good  in  some  hands,  but  it  does  n't 
follow  that  it  should  be  in  all.  Lead  a  single 
card  sometimes,  or,  at  any  rate,  from  your 
weakest  suit,  so  as  to  make  yotir  little  trumps 
when  the  suit  is  returned. 
123 


124  Wibiet  nuggets 


By  following  this  course  in  leads,  you  will 
nine  times  out  of  ten  ruin  both  your  own  and 
your  partner's  hands  ;  but  the  tenth  time  you 
will  perhaps  make  several  little  trumps,  which 
would  have  been  useless  otherwise.  In  addition 
to  this,  if  sometimes  you  lead  from  your  strong- 
est suit,  and  sometimes  from  3'our  weakest,  it 
puzzles  the  adversaries,  and  they  never  can  tell 
what  you  have  led  from. 

2.  Seldom  return  your  partner's  lead  ;  you 
have  as  many  cards  in  your  hand  as  he  has  it 
is  a  free  country,  and  why  should  you  submit 
to  his  dictation  ?  Play  the  suit  you  deem  best, 
without  regard  to  any  preconceived  theories. 

It  is  an  excellent  plan  to  lead  out  first  one 
suit  and  then  another.  This  mode  of  play  is 
extremely  perplexing  to  the  whole  table.  If 
you  have  a  fancy  for  books,  you  will  find  this 
system  approved  by  "J.  C."  He  says:  "You 
mystify  alike  your  adversaries  and  your  partner. 
You  turn  the  game  upside  down,  reduce  it  to 
one  of  chance,  and,  in  the  scramble,  may  have 
as  good  a  chance  as  your  neighbors." 

3.  Especially  do  not  return  your  partner's 


Zbc  Duffer's  IMbist  jflBajtms      125 

lead  in  trumps,  for  not  doing  so  now  and  then 
turns  out  to  be  advantageous.  Who  knows  but 
you  may  make  a  trump  by  holding  it  up,  which 
you  certainly  cannot  do  if  your  trumps  are  all 
out?  Never  mind  the  fact  that  you  will  gener- 
ally lose  tricks  by  refusing  to  play  your  part- 
ner's game. 

Whenever  you  succeed  in  making  a  trump 
by  your  refusal,  be  sure  to  point  out  to  your 
partner  how  fortunate  it  was  that  you  played 
as  you  did. 

Perhaps  your  partner  is  a  much  better  player 
than  you,  and  he  may  on  some  former  occasion, 
with  an  exceptional  hand,  have  declined  to 
return  your  lead  of  trumps.  Make  a  note  of 
this.  Remind  him  of  it  if  he  complains  of 
your  neglecting  to  return  his  lead.  It  is  an 
unanswerable  argument. 

4.  There  are  a  lot  of  rules,  to  which,  how- 
ever, you  need  pay  no  attention,  about  leading 
from  sequences.  What  can  it  matter  which 
card  of  a  sequence  you  lead?  The  sequence 
cards  are  all  of  the  same  value,  and  one  of  them 
is  as  likely  to  win  the  trick  as  another.     Be- 


126  "mbiSt  nWQQCtB 

sides,  if  you  look  at  the  books,  you  '11  find  the 
writers  don't  even  know  their  own  minds. 
They  advise  in  some  cases  that  you  should  lead 
the  highest,  in  others  the  lowest,  of  the  se- 
quence ;  and  in  leading  from  ace,  king,  queen, 
they  actually  recommend  you  to  begin  with  the 
middle  card.  Any  person  of  common  sense 
must  infer  from  this  that  it  don't  matter  which 
card  of  a  sequence  you  lead. 

5.  There  are  also  a  number  of  rules  about 
the  play  of  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  hands, 
but  they  are  quite  unworthy  serious  considera- 
tion. The  exceptions  are  almost  as  numerous  as 
the  rules,  so  if  you  play  by  no  rule  at  all  you 
are  about  as  likely  to  be  right  as  wrong. 

6.  Before  leading  trumps  always  first  get  rid 
of  all  the  winning  cards  in  your  plain  suit. 
You  will  not  then  be  bothered  by  the  lead  after 
trumps  are  out,  and  you  thus  shift  all  the  re- 
sponsibility of  mistakes  on  to  your  partner.  But 
if  your  partner  has  led  a  suit,  be  careful  when 
you  lead  trumps  to  keep  in  your  hand  the  best 
card  of  his  lead.  By  this  means,  if  he  goes  on 
with  his  suit,   you  are  more  likely  to  get  the 


Zbc  Dutfer'6  llClbist  /Iftasfms      127 

lead  after  trumps  are  out,  which,  the  books  say, 
is  a  great  advantage. 

7.  Take  every  opportunity  of  playing  false 
cards,  both  high  and  low.  For  by  deceiving 
all  round  you  will  now  and  then  win  an  extra 
trick.  It  is  often  said,  "  Oh,  but  you  deceive 
your  partner. "  That  is  very  true.  But,  then, 
as  you  have  two  adversaries  and  only  one  part- 
ner, it  is  obvious  that  b}-  running  dark  you  play 
two  to  one  in  your  own  favor.  Besides  this,  it 
is  very  gratifying,  when  your  trick  succeeds,  to 
have  taken  in  your  opponents,  and  to  have  won 
the  applause  of  an  ignorant  gallery.  If  you  play 
in  a  commonplace  way,  even  your  partner 
scarcely  thanks  you.  Anybody  could  have 
done  the  same. 

8.  Whatever  you  do,  never  attend  to  the 
score,  and  don't  watch  the  fall  of  the  cards. 
There  is  no  earthly  reason  for  doing  either  of 
these.  As  for  the  score,  your  object  is  to  make 
as  many  as  you  can.  The  game  is  five,  but,  if 
you  play  to  score  six  or  seven,  small  blame  to 
you.  Never  mind  running  the  risk  of  not  get- 
ting another  chance  of  making  even  five.  Keep 


128  'CClbtst  IRuggcts 


as  many  pictures  and  winning  cards  as  you  can 
in  your  hand.  They  are  pretty  to  look  at,  and 
if  you  remain  with  the  best  of  each  suit  you  ef- 
fectually prevent  the  adversaries  from  bringing 
in  a  lot  of  small  cards  at  the  end  of  the  hand. 
As  to  the  fall  of  the  cards,  it  is  quite  clear  that 
it  is  of  no  use  to  watch  them  ;  for  if  everybody 
at  the  table  is  trying  to  deceive  you,  in  accord- 
ance with  Maxim  7,  the  less  you  notice  the 
cards  they  play  the  less  you  will  be  taken  in. 

9.  Whenever  you  have  ruined  your  hand 
and  your  partner's  by  playing  in  the  way  here 
recommended,  you  should  always  say  that  it 
"made  no  difference." 

It  sometimes  happens  that  it  has  made  no 
difference,  and  than  your  excuse  is  clearly 
valid.  And  it  will  often  happen  that  your  part- 
ner does  not  care  to  argue  the  point  with  you, 
in  which  case  3'our  remark  will  make  it  clear  to 
everybody  that  you  have  a  profound  insight  in- 
to the  game.  If,  however,  your  partner  chooses 
to  be  disagreeable,  and  succeeds  in  proving  you 
to  be  utterly  ignorant  of  the  first  elements  of 
whist,  stick  to  it  that  you  played  right,  that 


Zbc  2)uttcr*0  Timbfst  ^ajfms      129 

good  play  will  sometimes  turn  out  unfortu- 
nately, and  accuse  your  partner  of  judging  by 
results.     This  will  generally  silence  him. 

10.  Invariably  blow  up  your  partner  at  the 
end  of  every  hand.  It  is  not  only  a  most  gentle- 
manlike employment  of  spare  time,  but  it  gains 
you  the  reputation  of  being  a  first-rate  player. 

Cavendish's  Card  Essays. 


WHIST,  OR  BUMBLEPUPPY?* 


ON   THINGS    IN    GENERAL. 

The  titae  has  come,'  the  walrus  said, 
'  To  talk  of  many  things.'  " 


TO  become  a  fair  whist-player,t  no  wonder- 
ful attributes  are  required  :  common- 
sense,  a  small  amount  of  knowledge,— easily 
acquired, — ordinary  observation  of  facts  as  they 
occur ^  and  experience,  the  result  of  that  observa- 
tion,— not  the  experience  obtained  by  repeating 
the  same  idiotic  mistakes  year  after  year, — are 
about  all.     To  save  you  trouble,  the  experience 

*  By  permission  of  the  author,  and  of  G.  E.  Waters, 
London,  Eng.,  and  of  Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers,  Boston. 

t  Not  a  fine  whist-plaver ;  for  this  is  a  rare  bird,  much 
more  rare  than  a  black  swan  (these  can  be  bought  any- 
day  at  Jamrach's  by  the  couple,  but  even  in  the  present 
hard  times  when,  I  am  informed,  the  markets  are  glut- 
ted with  everything,  he  has  not  one  fine  whist-plaj'er  in 
stock)  :  to  him,  in  addition  to  common-sense  and  atten- 
tion, genius  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Caveadish 
are  essential. 

130 


Mbist,  or  :iSiimt)lepiipps  ?         131 

of  all  the  best  players  for  the  last  hundred  years 
has  been  collected-  into  a  series  of  maxims, 
which  you  will  find  in  any  whist-book.  These 
maxims  you  should  know"^;  but  though  you 
know  every  maxim  that  ever  was  written,  and 
are  "bland,  passionate,  deeply  religious,  and 
also  paint  beautifully  in  water-colors,"  if  among 
your  other  virtues  the  power  of  assimilating 
facts  as  they  occur  is  not  included,  this  will  not 
avail  you  in  the  least. 

Bumblepuppy — according  to  its  own  account 
— demands  much  more  superfine  qualities : 
e.  g..,  inspiration,  second-sight,  instinct,  an  in- 
tuitive perception  of  false  cards  and  singletons, 
and  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  a  mysterious 
and  Protean  bogey  called  "the  game," — in 
short,   everything  but  reason  f  (all  these   fine 

*  "  Although  these  maxims  may  occasionally  speak  of 
things  never  to  be  done,  and  others  always  to  be  done, 
you  must  remember  that  no  rules  are  without  exception, 
and  few  more  open  to  exceptional  cases  than  rules  for 
whist."— Clay. 

t  Just  as  orthodoxy  has  been  defined  to  be  your  own 
doxy,  so  "the  game"  usually  means,  "j^our  own  idea 
of  the  game  at  the  time." 

I  have  called  it  Protean  because  it  assumes  so  man 
diflferent  forms  (being  mainh^  based  on   results),  an 
like  the  nigger's  littlepig,  runs  about  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  is  impossible  to  get  a  clear  view  of  it. 


X 


132  Mbist  muggets 

words,  when  boiled  and  peeled,  turn  out  some- 
times to  mean  ordinary  observation,  but  more 
usually  gross  ignorance).  So  much  for  its 
theory  ;  its  practice  is  this  : 

PRACTICE   OF   BUMBI^EPUPPY. 

"  This  is  an  anti-Christian  game, 
Unlawful  both  in  thing  and  name."— Hudibras. 

(i)  Lead  a  singleton  whenever  you  have  one. 

(2)  With  two  small  trumps  and  no  winning 
card,  lead  a  trump. 

(3)  Ruff  a  suit  of  which  your  partner  clearly 
holds  the  best,  if  you  are  weak  in  trumps. 

(4)  Never  ruff  anything  if  you  are  strong. 

(5)  Never  return  your  partner's  trump  if  you 
can  possibly  avoid  it,  unless  he  manifestly  led  it 
to  bring  in  a  suit  of  which  you  led  a  singleton. 

(6)  Deceive  him  whenever  you  get  a  chance. 

(7)  Open  a  new  suit  every  time  you  have  the 
lead. 

(8)  Never  pay  any  attention  to  your  partner's 
first  discard,  unless  it  is  a  forced  discard.  Lead 
your  own  suit. 


Mbiet,  or  JBumblepuppg  ?         133 


(9)  Never  force  him  under  any  circumstances 
unless  you  hold  at  least  five  trumps  with  two 
honors  ;  even  if  you  lose  the  rubber  by  it,  play 
"the  game!" 

(10)  Devote  all  your  remaining  energies  to 
looking  for  a  signal  in  the  last  trick.  If  you 
are  unable  to  discover  which  was  your  partner's 
card, — after  keeping  the  table  waiting  for  two 
minutes, — lead  him  a  trump  on  suspicion. 


Play  all  your  cards  alike,  without  emphasis 
or  hesitation  ;  how  can  you  expect  your  partner 
to  have  any  confidence  in  your  play  when  it  is 
evident  to  him  from  your  hesitation  that  you 
have  no  confidence  in  it  yourself? 

If  your  partner  renounces,  and  you  think  fit 
to  inquire  whether  he  is  void  of  the  suit,  do  so 
quietly  ;  don't  offer  a  hint  for  his  future  guid- 
ance by  glaring  or  yelling  at  him. 

Don't  ask  idiotic  questions.  If  you  led  an 
ace,  and  the  two,  three,  and  four  are  played  to 
the  trick,  what  is  the  useof  asking  your  partner 
to  draw  his  card  ?     If  you  hold  all  the  remain- 


134  'UIlbi»t  muGcets 

ing  cards  of  a  suit,  why  inquire  whether  lie  has 
any? 

Don't  talk  in  the  middle  of  the  hand.*  How- 
ever 3^ou  may  be  tempted  to  use  bad  language, 
— and  I  must  admit  the  temptation  is  often  very 
great, — always  recollect  that  though  your  Latin 
grammar  says  ''  humanum  est  irasci,''  the  anti- 
dote grows  near  the  bane  ;  for— at  the  bottom 
of  the  very  preceding  page — it  also  says  "/>// 
orant  taciti.'" 

" 'T  is  best  sometimes  your  censure  to  restrain." 

Pope. 

The  wisest  man  who  ever  lived  says  :  "  He  that 
holdeth  his  peace  is  counted  wise,  and  he  that 
shutteth  his  lips  is  esteemed  a  man  of  under- 
standing."    Such  a  reputation  appears   cheap 


*  "  Though  '  whist '  is  reported  to  be  an  old  English 
word  meaning  'silence,'  and  though  it  is  advisable  for 
many  reasons  that  it  should  be  played  with  reasonable 
quiet,  it  is  not  at  all  compulsory  to  conduct  yourself  as 
if  in  the  monastery  of  La  Trappe  :  you  have  a  perfect 
right— as  far  as  the  laws  of  whist  are'concerned— to  dis- 
cuss at  any  time  the  price  of  stocks,  the  latest  scandal, 
or  even  the  plaj'  going  on,  '  provided  that  no  intimation 
whatever,  by  word  or  gesture  be  given  as  to  the  state  of 
your  own  hand  or  the  game.'  ''  —  Etiquette  of  Uln'st. 

At  bumblepuppy  j-ou  had  better  waive  this  right  alto- 
gether ;  for  if  under  any  circumstances  j-ou  open  your 
mouth,  you  will  infallibly  put  your  foot  into  it. 


Mbiet,  or  :©umblepiipps  ?         135 


at  the  price  ;  but  if  you  are  of  the  opinion  of  J. 
P.  Robinson,  that  "they  didn't  know  every- 
thing down  in  Judee,"  you  can  call  your  part- 
ner any  names  you  like  as  soon  as  the  hand  is 
over.*  You  need  not  be  at  all  particular  what 
for  ;  any  crime  of  omission  or  commission- 
real  or  fancied — will  do.  If,  after  the  game  is 
over,  you  discover  that  it  might  have  been 
saved  or  won  by  doing  something  different, 
however  idiotic,  grumble  at  him.f 


*  "  Avoid  playing  with  those  who  instruct,  or  rather 
find  fault,  while  the  hand  is  playing.  They  are  gener- 
ally unqualified  by  ignorance,  and  judge  from  conse- 
quences ;  but,  if  not,  advice  while  playing  does  more 
harm  than  good." — Mathews. 

"The  empty  vessel  makes  the  greatest  sound."— 
Shakespeare 

"  Talking  over  the  hand  after  it  has  been  played  is  not 
uncommonly  called  a  bad  habit  and  an  annoyance  :  I  am 
firmly  persuaded  it  is  one  of  the  readiest  ways  of  learn- 
ing whist."— Clay. 

+  "  '  O  dreary  life  ! '  we  cry,  '  O  dreary  life  ! ' 
And  still  the  generations  of  the  birds 
Sing  through  our  sighing,  and  the  flocks  and 
herds 
Serenely  live  while  we  are  keeping  strife." 

"  The  education  of  the  whist-pla^-er  is  peculiar.  How 
he  becomes  a  whist-player,  nobody  knows.  He  never 
learns  his  alphabet  or  the  catechism,  or  anything  that 
he  ought  to  do.  He  appears  full-grown ,  mushroom-like. 
He  rememl^ers  some  one  blowing  him  tip  for  doing 
something  he  ought  not  to  have  "done,  and  somebody 
else  blowing  him  up  for  not  doing  something  else  ;  and 


136  Mblst  IFluggetg 


It  is  quite  legitimate  to  revile  him  for  not 
playing  cards  he  never  held  :  if  he  should  have 
the  temerity  to  point  out  that  the  facts  are 
against  you,  revile  the  facts. 

If  there  is  really  a  diabolical  mistake  in  the 
case,  and  you  happen  to  have  made  it  yourself, 
revile  him  with  additional  ferocity. 

Failing  any  other  grievance,  you  can  always 
prove  to  demonstration — and  at  interminable 
length— that  if  his  cards,  or  your  cards,  or  both 

he  is  blown  up  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  This  phase 
of  being  blown  up  is  varied  by  grumbling,  sometimes 
aloud,  sometimes  sotto  voce  ;  so  that  the  whist-player  is 
reared  on  scolding  and  grumbling  as  other  youngsters 
are  reared  on  pap.  Truly  this  is  a  happy  life.  Some 
men  grumble  on  principle  because  it  is  a  national  privi- 
lege, and  they  avail  themselves  of  the  Englishman's 
birthright. 

'  A  sect  whose  chief  devotion  lies 
In  odd  perverse  antipathies  ; 
In  falling  out  with  that  or  this, 
And  finding  somewhat  still  amiss  ; 
More  peevish,  cross,  and  splenetic 
Than  dog  distract,  or  monkey  sick.' — Hudibras. 

Some  do  it  because  they  believe,  that,  if  they  grumble 
enough,  it  will  bring  them  luck.  Some  do  it  in  the  hope 
that  they  will  excite  svmpathv.  and  that  their  friends 
will  feel  for  their  ill-fortune,  which,  by-the-by,  whist- 
players  never  do.  Some  grumble  to  annoy  their  friends, 
and  we  are  bound  to  say  these  succeed." — IVestminster 
Papers. 

"  The  croaking-  nuisance  lurked  in  every  nook  ; 
And  the  land  stank— so  numerous  was  the  fry.'" 

COWPER. 


mbist,  or  :fi3umblepuppi2?         137 

your  cards,  had  been  just  the  reverse  of  what 
they  were,  the  result  would  have  been  different. 
This  certainly  opens  a  wide  field  for  specula- 
tion ;  but  it  is  neither  an  instructive  nor  enter- 
taining amusement,  though  it  kills  time. 

There  is  a  theory,  which,  according  to  some 
evil-disposed  persons,  may  easily  be  made  too 
much  of, — the  injury  to  yourself  being  remote 
and  doubtful,  while  the  gratification  of  annoy- 
ing him  is  certain  and  immediate, — that  abus- 
ing your  partner,  as  having  a  tendency  to  make 
him  play  worse,  is  a  mistake  from  a  pecuniary- 
point  of  view.  Of  course  it  is  a  mistake,  but 
not  for  such  a  paltry  reason  as  that :  take  a 
higher  standpoint  !  Whether  you  are  winning 
or  losing, — 

"  You  should  never  let 
Your  angry  passions  rise." — Watts. 

Don't  cry  ! 

"  111  betides  a  nation  when 
She  sees  the  tears  of  bearded  men." 

And  you  will  have  a  beard  yourself  some 
time,  if  you  don't  lead  the  penultimate  of 
five.     Without  exciting  the  slightest  sympathy 


13S  mbisi  IRnQQCts 

on  the  part  of  an  unfeeling  public,  crying  de- 
ranges the  other  secretions.  The  Laureate  says, 
tears  are  idle,  and  professes  ignorance  of  their 
meaning  :  if  he  played  whist,  he  would  know 
that  they  injure  the  cards  and  make  them  sticky. 

Don't  play  out  of  your  turn,  nor  draw  your 
card  before  that  turn  comes. 

Don't  ride  a  hobb}-  to  death  !  /;/  ordinaiy 
whist  three  prevailing  hobbies  are  so  cruelly 
over-ridden  that  I  am  surprised  the  active  and 
energetic  Mr.  Colam  has  never  interfered  : 
these  are  : 

(i)  The  penultimate  of  a  long  suit ; 

(2)  The  signal  for  trumps  ; 

(3)  Not  forcing  your  partner  unless  you  are 
strong  in  trumps — under  any  circumstances. 

The  first  is  nothing  but  a  nuisance.*  The 
second  is  stated  to  simplify  the  game,  and  to 
cause  greater  attention  to  be  paid  to  it :  prac- 

*  "  They  are  intent  on  some  wretched  crotchet  like 
the  lowest  but  one  " 

"  Even,-  time  he  can  lead  a  lowest  but  one.  no  matter 
what  the" state  of  the  game  or  the  score,  that  lead  he  is 
sure  to  make  ;  and  we  believe  there  are  some  neophytes 
who  would  lose  their  mone\-  with  pleasure  if  they  could 
onlj-  tell  their  partners  afterwards  that  they  had  led  the 
lowest  but  one." — Westminster  Papers. 


1KIlbi6t,  or  JBumblcpuppe  ?  139 


tically  the  entire  time  of  the  players  is  taken 
up  either  iu  devising  absurd  signals,  or  in 
looking  for  and  failing  to  see  them.  The  third 
is  responsible  for  losing  about  as  many 
games  as  anything  I  am  acquainted  with, 
though  the  constant  and  aimless  changing  of 
suits  runs  it  close. 

Is  it  any  reason — because  you  have  no  trumps 
— that  you  should  announce  that  circumstance 
earh^  in  the  hand  to  the  general  public,  and 
prevent  your  partner  making  one  ?  If  he  has 
them  all,  you  cannot  injure  him  ;  if  he  has  not, 
the  adversaries  will  play  through  him  and 
strangle  him  :  how  is  it  that  you  are  afraid  to 
let  your  partner  make  a  certain  trick,  but  you 
are  never  afraid  to  open  a  new  suit  ? 

There  is  an  impression  abroad  that  there  is  a 
law  of  whist  somewhere  to  this  effect :  "  Never 
force  your  partner  at  any  stage  of  the  game  un- 
less you  yourself  are  strong  in  trumps." 

Let  us  see  what  the  authorities  say  on  the 
point : 

"  Keep  in  mind  that  general  maxims  pre-suppose 
the  game  and  hand  at  their   commencement,  and  tha*: 


140  mbiet  nmQct6 

material  changes  in  them  frequently  require  that  a  dif- 
ferent mode  of  play  should  be  adopted." 

"  It  is  a  general  maxim  not  to  force  your  partner  unless 
strong  in  trumps  yourself.  There  are,  however,  many 
exceptions  to  this  rule,  as  : 

"  (i)  If  your  partner  has  led  a  single  card  ; 

"  (2)  If  it  saves  or  wins  a  particular  point ; 

"  (3)  If  great  strength  in  trumps  is  declared  against 
you  ; 

"  (4)  If  you  have  a  probability  of  a  saw  ; 

"  (5)  If  your  partner  has  been  forced,  and  did  not  lead 
trumps  ; 

"  (6)  It  is  often  right  in  playing  for  an  odd  trick  ; 

"If  your  partner  shows  a  weak  game,  force  him 
whether  or  not  you  are  otherwise  entitled  to  do  it."— 
Mathews. 

With  a  M^eak  trump  hand,  force  your 
partner  : 

"  (i)  When  he  has  already  shown  a  desire  to  be  forced 
or  weakness  in  trumps  ; 

"  (2)  When  you  have  a  cross  ruff ; 

"  (3)  When  you  are  plaj'ing  a  close  game,  as  for  the 
odd  trick,  and  often  when  one  trick  saves  or  wins  the 
game  or  a  point ; 

•'  (4)  When  great  strength  in  trumps  has  been  declared 
against  you."— Cavendish. 

"  Do  not  force  your  partner  unless  to  make  sure  of  the 
tricks  required  to  save  or  win  the  game  ; 

"  Or  unless  he  has  been  already  forced,  and  has  not 
led  a  trump  ; 

"  Or  unless  he  has  asked  to  be  forced  by  leading  from 
a  single  card,  or  two  weak  cards  ; 

"  Or  unless  the  adversary  has  led,  or  asked  for  trumps." 
—Clay. 


IKHbist,  or  :©umt)lepupp^?         141 


"Unless  your  partner  has  shown  great  strength  in 
trumps,  or  a  wish  to  get  them  drawn,  or  has  refused  to 
ruff  a  doubtful  card,  give  him  the  option  of  making  a 
small  trump  ;  unless  you  have  some  good  reason  for  not 
doing  so,  other  than  a  weak  suit  of  trumps  in  your  own 
hand." — Art  of  Practical  IVhist. 

With  these  extracts  before  you,  perhaps  you 
will  dismiss  from  your  mind  the  popular  fallacy 
that  you  are  under  any  compulsion  to  lose  the 
game  because  your  trumps  are  not  quite  so 
strong  as  you  could  wish. 

Make  a  note  of  this. 

Maxims  were  not  invented  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  you  from  either  saving  or  winning 
the  game,  though  it  is  their  unfortunate  fate  to 
be  epitomized  and  perverted  out  of  all  reason- 
able shape.  The  ill-advised  dictum,  "Suppose 
the  adversaries  are  four,  and  you,  with  the  lead, 
have  a  bad  hand  :  the  best  play  is  in  defiance  of 
all  system,  to  lead  out  your  best  trump,"  was 
comparatively-  innocuous,  till  some  ingenious 
person,  with  a  turn  for  abbreviation,  altered  it 
into,  "Whenever  you  hold  nothing,  lead  a 
trump  !  "  Use  your  common-sense.* 

*  "  Common-sense  (which  in  truth  is  very  uncommon) 
is  the  best  sense  I  know  of.  Abide  by  it  :  it  will  counsel 
you  h^si."— Chesterfield  Letters. 


142  lUbist  IRiicjgets 


I  have  gone  into  this  matter  at  considerable 
length,  because  I  am  convinced  that  however 
many  people,  once  affluent,  are  now  in  misery 
and  want,  owing  to  their  not  having  led  trumps 
with  five, — Clay  gave  the  number  as  eleven 
thousand, — a  far  larger  number  have  been 
reduced  to  this  deplorable  condition  by  chang- 
ing suits,  and  refusing  on  principle  to  save  the 
game  by  forcing  their  partner. 

Before  quitting  the  subject,  there  is  another 
branch  of  it  worthy  of  a  little  consideration. 
When  your  partner  has  shown  by  his  discard 
which  is  his  suit,  and  you  hold  two  or  three 
small  cards  in  it,  however  strong  you  may 
be  in  trumps, — unless  everything  depends  on 
one  trick, — do  you  expect  to  gain  much  by 
forcing  him  and  making  yourself  third 
player  ?  Though  it  is  usual  to  play  in  this 
absurd  way,  is  there  any  objection  to  first 
playing  his  suit,  and — as,  ex  hypothesi,  you 
are  strong  in  trumps  —  forcing  him  after- 
wards ? 

Play  always  as  simply  and  intelligibly  as  you 


mbist,  or  Sumblcpuppi2  ?         143 

can.*     Never  think  !  f   Know  !    Leave  thinking 
to  the  Teuton. 

"  A  Briton  knows  ;  or,  if  he  knows  it  not, 
He  ought."— Co WPER. 

After  the  game  has  begun,  the  time  for  think- 
ing has  passed  :  as  soon  as  a  card  is  led,  it  is  the 
time  for  action,  the  time  to  bring  your  previously 
acquired  knowledge  to  bear. 

P.  S. — When  pointing  out  your  rights,  I 
omitted  to  state,  that,  before  you  proceed  to 
give  your  partner  a  piece  of  j'our  mind,  you 
should  always  call  your  honors  ;  for  by  neglect- 
ing this  simple  precaution  you  will  often  lay 
yourself  open  to  a  crushing  rejoinder. — Ex- 
perto  crede. 

*  In  addition  to  your  partner  not  being  able  to  see 
your  cards — in  itself  a  disadvantage— he  is,  by  an  im- 
mutable law  of  nature,  much  inferior  in  perception  to 
yourself:  you  should  bear  this  in  mind,  and  not  be  too 
hard  on  the  poor  fellow. 

+  This  is  at  first  sight  rather  an  appalling  proposition, 
but  the  advice  I  give  you  I  have  always  endeavored  to 
follow  myself;  and  I  am  not  a  solitary  case,  for  in  The 
Nineteeyith  Century  Revierv  iox  May,  1879, 1  find  the  writer 
of  one  of  the  articles  in  the  same  boat.  This  thoughtful 
writer — he  must  have  been  thoughtful,  otherwise  his 
lucubration  would  not  have  been  accepted— says,  ' '  I  have 
given  up  the  practice  of  thinking,  or  may  be  I  never 
had  it." 


144  Timbist  IRugcjete 

THINKING. 

"  With  some  unmeaning  thing,  that  they  call  thought." 

Pope. 
Never  think  ! 

Unless  you  have  some  remarkably  good  rea- 
son for  taking  your  own  course,  do  as  you  are 
told.  If  your  partner  leads  you  a  small  trump, 
return  it  at  once. 

"  Gratia  ab  officio,  quod  mora  tardat,  abest." 

This  is  a  much  more  simple  and  satisfactory 
plan  than  to  proceed  to  think  that  he  may  have 
no  more,  or  that  the  fourth  player  must  hold 
major  tenace.  No  one  will  admit  more  readily 
than  I  do,  that  you  are  much  the  better  player 
of  the  two,  still  allow  him  to  have  some  idea 
of  the  state  of  your  own  hand. 

Don't  think,  whenever  you  see  a  card  played, 
that  it  is  necessarily  false  :  as,  on  the  whole, 
true  cards  are  in  the  majority,  you  are  rather 
more  likely  to  be  wrong  than  right,  and  the 
betting  must  be  against  you  in  the  long-run. 

"  My  business  and  your  own  is  not  to  inquire 
Into  such  matters,  but  to  mind  our  cue,— 
Which  is  to  act  as  we  are  bid  to<do."— Byron. 


TKIlbiet,  or  :©umblcpupps  ?         145 

If  you  are  blessed  with  a  sufficiently  sharp 
eye  to  the  left,  you  may  occasionally  know  that 
a  card  is  false  ;  but  I  should  not  describe  knowl- 
edge acquired  in  that  way  as  thinking,  I  should 
use  quite  a  different  expression. 

With  the  military  gentleman  who  anathemat- 
ized intellect,  I  deeply  sympathize.  Profound 
thought  about  facts  which  have  just  taken 
place  under  your  own  eye  is  the  bane  of  whist. 

Why  imitate  Mark  Twain's  fiery  steed  ? 
Why,  when  it  is  your  business  to  go  on,  "lean 
your  head  against  something,  and  think  "  ? 

Whether  3'ou  have  seen  a  thing,  or  not  seen 
it,  there  can  be  no  necessity  for  thought.  Re- 
condite questions — such  as  whether  the  seven 
is  the  best  of  a  suit  of  which  all  the  others  but 
the  six  are  out,  or  whether  a  card  is  the  twelfth 
or  thirteenth — can  be  answered  by  a  rational 
being  in  two  ways,  and  two  only  :  either  he 
knows,  or  he  does  not  know  ;  there  is  no  tertium 
quid.  The  curious  practice  of  gazing  intently 
at  the  chandelier,  and  looking  as  intelligent  as 
nature  will  permit, — if  not  more  so, — though  it 
is  less  confusing  than  going  to  the  last  trick  for 


146  Timbist  IRuggets 


informatiou,  and  imposes  upon  some  people,  is 
no  answer  at  all  *  :  this,  in  whist  circles,  is 
called,  or  miscalled  thinking.  It  is  not  a  new 
invention,  for  it  has  been  known  and  practised 
from  the  earliest  times.  "  There  is  a  genera- 
tion, oh,  how  lofty  are  their  eyes  !  and  their 
eye-lids  are  lifted  up"  (Prov.  xxx.,  13,  B.C. 
1,000).  Pecksniff,  who  had  an  extensive  ac- 
quaintance with  the  weaknesses  of  human 
nature,  knew  it :  you,  and  all  other  schoolboys, 
are  adepts  at  it. 

In  Greek  the  very  name  of  man — (XvQpGOTtos — 
was  derived  from  this  peculiar  method  of  feign- 
ing intelligence,  and  it  was  by  no  means  un- 
known to  the  Romans. 

''  Pronaque  cum  spectent  animalia  coetera  terram, 
Os  homini  sublime  dedit  coelumque  tueri." 

But,  however  ancient  and  venerable  the  prac- 
tice may  be,  it  is  one  of  those  numerous  prac- 
tices more  honored  in  the  breach  than  in  the 
observance.  Surely  looking  at  the  table  is  more 
in  accordance  with    the   dictates   of  common- 


*  Making  passes  in  the  air  with  your  hand,  as  if  you 
were  about  to  mesmerize  the  table,  is  another  favorite 
stratagem. 


IGlbfst,  or  JJSumblepupp^  7         147 


sense  than  attempting  to  eliminate  unknown 
quantities  from  a  chandelier.  In  the  one  you 
have  gas,  and  probably  water :  on  the  other,  — 
lying  open  before  you, — the  data  required.  I 
have  now  endeavored,  not  to  teach  you  either 
whist  or  bumblepuppy,  but  to  point  out  a  few 
of  the  differences  between  them,  and  to  start 
you  on  the  right  road.  The  first  is  a  game  of 
reason  and  common-sense,  played  in  combina- 
tion with  your  partner  ;  the  second  is  a  game 
of  inspiration,  hap-hazard,  and  absurdity,  where 
your  partner  is  your  deadliest  enemy.  1  have 
made  a  few  extracts  from  Mathews  :  partly  be- 
cause I  don't  like  novelties  merely  because  they 
are  novelties ;  partly  to  convince  the  bumblepup- 
pist  (if  anything  will  convince  him)  that  when  he 
tells  me  the  recognized  play  is  anew  invention, 
introduced  by  Cavendish  for  his  especial  annoy- 
ance, he  does  not  know  what  he  is  talking  about; 
and  partly  to  show  you  that  since  that  book 
was  written — eighty  years  ago — the  main  prin- 
ciples of  whist  are  almost  unaltered. 

The  chapter  on  etiquette  is  since  his  time  ; 
but,  though  the  game  has  been   cut  down  one- 


148  'Mbiet  IRuggets 

half,  take  away  from  Mathews  his  slight  par- 
tiality for  sneakers  (to  be  accounted  for  by  the 
possibility  of  his  partner  at  that  remote  period 
being  even  a  rpore  dangerous  lunatic  than  yours 
is  at  present,  and  the  consequent  necessity  of 
playing  more  on  the  defensive  ;  for  leading 
singletons,  whatever  else  it  may  do,  does  not 
injure  the  leader),*  take  away  from  the  play  of 
to-day  its  signal,  its  echo,  and  its  penultimate  of 
along  suit, — all  excrescences  of  doubtful  advan- 
tage for  general  purposes,  and  the  last  two  more 
adapted  to  that  antediluvian  epoch  when  human 
life  was  longer, — and  the  continuity  of  the 
game  is  clear. f  Whether  whist  would  gain 
anything  by  their  omission,  I  am  unable  to  say. 


*  The  difference  here  is  more  apparent  than  real  : 
Mathews,  with  considerable  limitations,  advocates  lead- 
ing sincfletons.  Nowadays  the  practice  is  decried  ;  but 
I  regret  to  say,  that,  as  far  as  my  experience  goes,  the 
principal  obstacle  to  leading  a  singleton  is  not  having  a 
singleton  to  lead. 

t  "  We  suspect  that  Cavendish  verv'  often  must  have 
objected  to  that  ancient  plagiarist  Mathews  for  stealing 
his  ideas." 

"  If  their  ideas  are  not  identical,  it  is  rather  difficult  to 
find  where  the  one  begins,  and  the  other  ends." — IVest- 
minster  Papers. 

"  I  contend  that  there  is  no  essential  difference  be- 
tween modern  and  old-fashioned  whist  \  i  e  ,  between 
Hoyle  and  Cavendish,  !Mathews  and  J.  C."— Mogul. 


Mblst,  ox  JBumblepupp^  ?         149 

The  attention,  now  always  on  the  strain  in  look- 
ing- for  its  accidents,  would  have  a  spare  mo- 
ment or  two  to  devote  to  its  essentials  :  whether 
it  would  do  anything  of  the  kind,  is  another 
matter. 

Those  followers  of  Darwin  and  believers  in 
the  doctrine  of  evolution,  to  whom  it  is  a  source 
of  comfort  that  an  ascidian  monad  and  not  Eve 
was  their  first  parent,  must  find  the  whist-table 
rather  a  stumbling-block  :  they  will  see  there 
uncommonl}^  few  specimens  of  the  survival  of 
the  fittest. 

The  philosopher  of  Chelsea  long  since  arrived 
at  the  unsatisfactory  and  sweeping  conclusion, 
that  the  population  of  these  islands  are  mostly 
fools  ;  and  he  has  made  no  exception  for  the 
votaries  of  whist.  Still,  it  has  the  reputation  of 
being  a  very  pretty  game,  though  this  reputation 
must  be  based  to  a  great  extent  on  conjecture  ; 
for  apart  from  its  other  little  peculiarities, — on 
some  of  which  I  have  briefly  touched, — its  feat- 
ures are  so  fearfully  disfigured  by  bumblepuppy, 
that  it  is  as  difficult  to  give  a  positive  opinion 
as  to   say    whether   a  woman    suffering   from 


I50  XClbist  IRuciciets 

malignant  small-pox  might  or  might  not  be 
good-looking  under  happier  circumstances.  The 
sublime  self-confidence  expressed  in  the 
distich, — 

'■  When  I  see  thee  ■as  thou  art, 
I'll  praise  thee  as  I  ought," — 

has  not  been  vouchsafed  to  me  ;  but  if  ever  I 
obtain  a  clear  view  of  it,  I  will  undertake  to 
report  upon  it  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 

You  may  have  heard,  that  if  you  are  ignorant 
of  whist  5'ou  are  preparing  for  ^-ourself  a  miser- 
able old  age  :  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  a 
knowledge  of  it — as  practised  at  this  particular 
epoch — is  to  be  classed  with  the  beatitudes. 

THE   DOMESTIC   RUBBER. 

A  third  variety  of  whist,  the  domestic  rubber, 
T  have  passed  over  in  silence.  What  takes 
place  in  the  sanctity  of  private  life,  it  would 
be  as  unbecoming  for  me  to  divulge  as  for  you 
to  seek  to  know. 

"  O'er  all  its  faults  we  draw  a  tender  veil, 
So  great  its  sorrows,  and  so  sad  its  tale." 


TKIlbist,  or  :©umblepupps  ?         151 

At  the  same  time  I  don't  think  I  am  violating 
any  confidence  in  sta\ing  that  you  will  neither 
find  there  signalling,  nor  the  penultimate  of 
five  and  its  developments  :  yet,  though  free  from 
these  annoyances,  the  game,  even  when  miti- 
gated by  muffins,  music,  and  the  humanizing 
influence  of  woman,  is  inexpressibly  dreary, 
and  you  had  better  keep  out  of  it  if  you  can  ; 
but  should  this  not  be  practicable, — for  some 
relative  from  whom  you  have  a  reasonable 
expectation  of  a  tip  may  be  staying  in  the 
house,  and  you  may  be  compelled  to  sacrifice 
yourself  either  on  the  altar  of  dut}-  or  of  self- 
interest, — then  never  forget  that  sweetness  of 
temper  is  much  more  important  here  than 
knowledge  of  whist,  and,  consoling  yourself 
with  the  two  following  reflections  — 

(i)  That  (according  to  Epicurus)  prolonged 
pain  is  rather  pleasant  than  otherwise,  extreme 
pain  always  short  *  ; 

(2)  That  those  whom  the  gods  love  die 
young — 

*  He  is  right  to  some  extent:  the  domestic  rubber 
always  closes  early. 


152 


Mbist  mu0cjet6 


when  your  hour  arrives,  bare  your  throat  to  the 
knife  with  a  smile. 

So  shall  your  memory  smell  sw^eet  and  blos- 
som in  domestic  circles. 

"PEMBRIDGE." 


CARDS  SPIRITUALIZED. 

T^HB  following  curious  article  is  taken  from 
^  an  English  newspaper  of  the  year  1773, 
and  is  there  called  the  "Perpetual  Almanack  ; 
or,  Soldier's  Prayer  Book,"  by  Richard  Lane,  a 
private  soldier,  belonging  to  the  426.  regiment, 
who  was  taken  before  the  Mayor  of  Glasgow  for 
playing  cards  during  divine  service. 

The  sergeant  commanded  the  soldiers  to 
church,  and  when  the  parson  read  his  prayers 
and  took  his  text,  those  who  had  a  Bible  took 
it  out ;  but  this  soldier  had  neither  a  Bible  nor 
a  common  prayer-book  ;  but  pulling  out  a  pack 
of  cards,  he  spread  them  out  before  him.  He 
first  looked  at  one  card  and  then  at  another. 
The  sergeant  of  the  company  saw  him  and 
said  : 

153. 


154  llGlbist  "UnQQCtS 


"  Richard  put  up  the  cards  ;  this  is  no  place 
for  them." 

"  Never  mind  that,"  said  Richard, 

When  the  service  was  over,  the  constable 
took  Richard  prisoner  and  brought  him  before 
the  Mayor. 

"Well,"  said  the  Mayor,  "What  have  you 
brought  this  soldier  here  for?  " 

"  For  playing  cards  in  church." 

"Well,  soldier,  what  have  you  to  say  for 
yourself.''  " 

"Much,  sir,  I  hope." 

"  Very  good  ;  if  not  I  will  punish  you  more 
than  ever  man  was  punished." 

"  I  have  been,"  said  the  soldier,  "about  six 
weeks  on  the  march  ;  I  have  neither  Bible  nor 
common  prayer-book  ;  I  have  nothing  but  a 
common  pack  of  cards,  and  I  hope  to  satisfy 
your  worship  of  the  purity  of  my  intentions." 

"  Very  good,"  said  the  Mayor. 

Then,  spreading  the  cards  before  the  Mayor, 
he  began  with  the  ace  : 

"When  I  see  the  ace,  it  reminds  me  there  is 
but  one  God. 


CarD6  Spii'itualijcD  155 


"When  I  see  the  deuce,  it  reminds  me  of 
Father  and  Son. 

"When  I  see  the  tray,  it  reminds  me  of 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 

"  When  I  see  the  four,  it  reminds  me  of  the 
four  evangelists  that  preached,  viz.,  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  and  John. 

"When  I  see  the  five,  it  reminds  me  of  the 
five  wise  virgins  that  trimmed  their  lamps. 
There  were  ten,  but  five  were  fools,  and  were 
sent  out. 

"  When  I  see  the  six,  it  reminds  me  that  in 
six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth. 

"When  I  see  the  seven,  it  reminds  me  that 
on  the  seventh  day  God  rested  from  the  works 
He  had  made,  and  hallowed  it. 

"When  I  see  the  eight,  it  reminds  me  of  the 
eight  righteous  persons  that  were  saved  when 
God  drowned  the  world,  viz.,  Noah  and  his 
wife,  his  three  sous  and  their  wives. 

"When  I  see  the  nine,  it  reminds  me  of  the 
nine  lepers  that  were  cleansed  by  our  Saviour. 
There  were  ten,  but  nine  never  returned 
thanks. 


156  IKflbist  1Fluc}9et6 


"When  I  see  the  ten,  it  reminds  me  of  the 
ten  commandments,  which  God  handed  down 
to  Moses  on  a  table  of  stone. 

"  When  I  see  the  king,  it  reminds  me  of  the 
great  King  of  Heaven,  which  is  God  Almighty. 

"  When  I  see  the  queen,  it  reminds  me  of  the 
Queen  of  Sheba,  who  went  to  hear  the  wisdom 
of  Solomon,  for  she  was  as  wise  a  woman 
as  he  a  man.  She  brought  with  her  fifty  boys 
and  fifty  girls,  all  dressed  in  boy's  apparel,  for 
King  vSolomon  to  tell  which  were  girls.  King 
Solomon  sent  for  water  for  them  to  wash  them- 
selves ;  the  girls  washed  to  the  elbows,  and  the 
boys  only  to  the  wrists — so  King  Solomon  told 
by  this." 

"Well,"  said  the  Mayor,  "you  have  given  a 
description  of  every  card  in  the  pack  except 
one." 

"What  is  that?  "  asked  the  soldier. 

"The  knave,"  said  the  Mayor. 

"I  will  give  your  honor  a  description  of  that, 
too,  if  you  will  not  be  angry." 

"  I  will  not,"  said  the  Mayor,  "  if  you  will 
not  term  me  to  be  a  knave." 


Car06  Spirituali3eD  157 


"Well,"  vSaid  the  soldier,  "  the  greatest  knave 
that  I  know  of  is  the  constable  who  brought  me 
here." 

"  I  do  not  know,"  said  the  Mayor,  "whether 
he  is  the  greatest  knave,  but  I  know  he  's  the 
greatest  fool." 

"  When  I  count  how  many  spots  in  a  pack,  I 
find  three  hundred  and  sixty-five — as  many  as 
there  are  days  in  a  year. 

**When  I  count  the  number  of  cards  in  a 
pack,  I  find  there  are  fifty-two — as  many  weeks 
as  there  are  in  a  year  ;  and  I  find  four  siiits — 
the  number  of  weeks  in  the  month. 

"  I  find  there  are  twelve  picture  cards  in  the 
pack,  representing  the  number  of  months  in 
the  year  ;  and  counting  the  tricks,  I  find  thirteen 
— the  number  of  weeks  in  a  quarter. 

"  So  you  see,  sir,  the  pack  of  cards  serves  for 
a  Bible,  almanac,  and  common  prayer-book  to 
me." 

Anonymous. 


w^^m^ 


MRS.  BATTLE'S  OPINIONS  ON 
WHIST. 


**  A  CLEAR  fire,  a  clean  hearth,  and  the  rigor 
of  the  game."  This  was  the  celebrated 
tvish  of  old  Sarah  Battle  (now  with  God),  who, 
next  to  her  devotions,  loved  a  good  game  of 
whist.  She  was  none  of  your  lukewarm 
gamesters,  your  half-and-half  players,  who 
have  no  objection  to  take  a  hand,  if  you  want 
one  to  make  up  a  rubber  ;  who  affirm  that  they 
have  no  pleasure  in  winning  ;  that  they  like  to 
win  one  game  and  lose  another  ;  that  they  can 
while  away  an  hour  very  agreeably  at  a  card- 
table,  but  are  indifferent  whether  they  play  or 
no ;  and  will  desire  an  adversary,  who  has 
slipped  a  wrong  card,  to  take  it  up  and  play 
15S 


mv3.  J6attle*6  ©pinions  on  Mbist  159 


another.  These  insufferable  trifiers  are  the 
curse  of  a  table.  One  of  these  flies  will  spoil 
a  whole  pot.  Of  such  it  may  be  said  that  they 
do  not  play  at  cards,  but  only  play  at  playing 
at  them. 

Sarah  Battle  was  none  of  that  breed.  She 
detested  them,  as  I  do,  from  her  heart  and  soul, 
and  would  not,  save  upon  a  striking  emergency, 
willingly  seat  herself  at  the  same  table  with 
them.  She  loved  a  thorough-paced  partner,  a 
determined  enemy.  She  took,  and  gave,  no 
concessions.  She  hated  favors.  She  never 
made  a  revoke,  nor  even  passed  it  over  in  her 
adversary  without  exacting  the  utmost  forfeit- 
ure. vShe  fought  a  good  fight — cut  and  thmst. 
She  held  not  her  good  sword  (her  cards)  "  like 
a  dancer."  She  sate  bolt  upright,  and  neither 
showed  you  her  cards,  nor  desired  to  see  yours. 
All  people  have  their  blind  side — their  super- 
stitions ;  and  I  have  heard  her  declare,  under 
the  rose,  that  Hearts  was  her  favorite  suit. 

I  never  in  my  life— and  I  knew  Sarah  Battle 
many  of  the  best  years  of  it— saw  her  take  out 
her  snufi'-box  when  it  was  her  turn  to  play,  or 


i6o  Timbist  mugget0 


snuff  a  candle  in  the  middle  of  a  game,  or  ring 
for  a  serv^ant  till  it  was  fairly  over.  She  never 
introduced  or  connived  at  miscellaneous  con- 
versation during  its  progress.  As  she  emphati- 
cally observed,  "cards  were  cards"  ;  and  if  I 
ever  saw  unmingled  distaste  in  her  fine  last- 
century  countenance,  it  was  at  the  airs  of  a 
young  gentleman  of  a  literar\'  turn,  who  had 
been  with  diflSculty  persuaded  to  take  a  hand, 
and  who,  in  his  excess  of  candor,  declared 
that  he  thought  there  was  no  harm  in  unbend- 
ing the  mind  now  and  then,  after  serious 
studies,  in  recreations  of  that  kind  !  She  could 
not  bear  to  have  her  noble  occupation,  to  which 
she  wound  up  her  faculties,  considered  in  that 
light.  It  was  her  business,  her  duty,  the  thing 
she  came  into  the  w^orld  to  do, — and  she  did  it. 
She  unbent  her  mind  afterwards  over  a  book. 

Pope  was  her  favorite  author  ;  his  Rape  of 
the  Lock  her  favorite  work.  She  once  did 
me  the  honor  to  play  over  with  me  (with  the 
cards)  his  celebrated  game  of  ombre  in  that 
poem  ;  and  to  explain  to  me  how  far  it  agreed 
with,  and  in  what  points  it  would  be  found  to 


/IRrs.  JSattle'6  ©pinfons  on  Mbfst    i6i 

differ  from,  tradrille.  Her  illustrations  were 
apposite  and  poignant ;  and  I  have  had  the 
pleasure  of  sending  the  substance  of  them  to 
Mr.  Bowles  ;  but  I  suppose  they  came  too  late 
to  be  inserted  among  his  ingenious  notes  upon 
that  author. 

Quadrille,  she  has  often  told  me,  was  her  first 
love ;  but  whist  had  engaged  her  maturer  es- 
teem. The  former,  she  said,  was  showy  and 
specious,  and  likely  to  allure  young  persons. 
The  uncertainty  and  quick  shifting  of  partners 
— a  thing  which  the  constancy  of  whist  abhors 
— the  dazzling  supremacy  and  regal  investiture 
of  spadille — absurd,  as  she  justly  observed,  in 
the  pure  aristocracy  of  whist,  where  his  crown 
and  garter  give  him  no  proper  power  above  his 
brother  nobility  of  the  aces  ; — the  giddy  vanity, 
so  taking  to  the  inexperienced,  of  playing 
alone  ;  above  all,  the  overpowering  attractions 
of  a  Sans  Prendre  Vole, — to  the  triumph  of 
which  there  is  certainly  nothing  parallel  or  ap- 
proaching, in  the  contingencies  of  whist ; — all 
these,  she  would  say,  make  quadrille  a  game  of 
captivation  to  the  young  and  enthusiastic.     But 


162  "Mbist  IftuQaets 

whist  was  the  solider  game — that  was  her  word. 
It  was  a  long  meal  :  not  like  quadrille  a  feast 
of  snatches.  One  or  two  rubbers  might  coex- 
tend  in  duration  with  an  evening.  They  gave 
time  to  form  rooted  friendships,  to  cultivate 
steady  enmities.  She  despised  the  chance- 
started,  capricious,  and  ever-fluctuating  alli- 
ances of  the  other.  The  skirmishes  of  quadrille, 
she  would  say,  reminded  her  of  the  petty  ephem- 
eral embroilments  of  the  little  Italian  states, 
depicted  by  Machiavel,  perpetually  changing 
postures  and  connection ;  bitter  foes  to-day,  su- 
gared darlings  to-morrow  ;  kissing  and  scratch- 
ing in  a  breath  ; — but  the  wars  of  whist  were 
comparable  to  the  long,  steady,  deep-rooted, 
national  antipathies  of  the  great  French  and 
English  nations. 

A  grave  simplicity  was  what  she  chiefly 
admired  in  her  favorite  game.  There  was 
nothing  sillj^  in  it,  like  the  nob  in  cribbage — 
nothing  superfluous.  No  flushes — that  most 
irrational  of  all  pleas  that  a  reasonable  being 
can  set  up  ; — that  any  one  should  claim  four  by 
virtue  of  holding  cards  of  the  same  mark  and 


/Iftrs.  JSattle'6  ©pinions  on  TlClbist    163 

color,  without  reference  to  the  playing  of  the 
game,  or  the  individual  worth  or  pretensions  of 
the  cards  themselves  !  vShe  held  this  to  be  a 
solecism  ;  as  pitiful  an  ambition  in  cards  as 
alliteration  is  in  authorship.  vShe  despised 
superficiality,  and  looked  deeper  than  the  colors 
of  things.  Suits  were  soldiers,  she  would  say, 
and  must  have  a  uniformity  of  array  to  distin- 
guish them  ;  but  what  should  we  say  to  a  foolish 
squire,  who  should  claim  a  merit  from  dressing 
up  his  tenantry  in  red  jackets,  that  never  were 
to  be  marshalled — never  to  take  the  field  ?  She 
even  wished  that  whist  were  more  simple  than 
it  is  ;  and,  in  my  mind,  would  have  stripped  it 
of  some  appendages,  w^hich  in  the  state  of 
human  frailty,  may  be  venially,  and  even  com- 
mendabl}',  allowed  of.  vShe  saw  no  reason  for 
the  deciding  of  the  trump  by  the  turn  of  the 
card.  Why  not  one  suit  always  trumps  ?  Why 
two  colors  w^hen  the  mark  of  the  suits  would 
have  sufficiently  distinguished  them  without  it  ? 
"  But  the  eye,  my  dear  Madam,  is  agreeably 
refreshed  with  the  variety.  Man  is  not  a  creat- 
ure of  pure  reason — he  must  have   his  senses 


i64  "Mbtst  Buagets 

delightfully  appealed  to.  We  see  it  in  Roman 
Catholic  countries,  where  the  music  and  the 
paintings  draw  in  many  to  worship,  whom  your 
Quaker  spirit  of  unsensualizing  would  have 
kept  out.  You  yourself  have  a  pretty  collec- 
tion of  paintings. — but  confess  to  me,  whether, 
walking  in  your  gallen-  at  Sandham,  among 
those  clear  Vandykes,  or  among  the  Paul  Pot- 
ters in  the  anteroom,  you  ever  felt  your  bosom 
glow  with  an  elegant  delight,  at  all  comparable 
to  that  you  have  it  in  your  power  to  experience 
most  evenings  over  a  well-arranged  assortment 
of  the  court-cards? — the  pretty  antic  habits, 
like  heralds  in  a  procession — the  gay  triumph- 
assuring  scarlets— the  contrasting  deadly-killing 
sables — the  '  hoary  majesty  of  spades  ' — Pam 
in  all  his  glory  ! 

"All  these  might  be  dispensed  with;  and 
with  their  naked  names  upon  the  drab  paste- 
board, the  game  might  go  on  very  well,  pic- 
tureless.  But  the  beauty  of  cards  would  be 
extinguished  forever.  Stripped  of  all  that  is 
imaginative  in  them,  they  must  degenerate  into 
mere  gambling.     Imagine  a  dull  deal  board,  or 


/libra.  :fi8attle'5  ©pinions  on  Mbist    165 


drum-head,  to  spread  them  on,  instead  of  that 
nice  verdant  carpet  (next  to  Nature's),  fittest 
arena  for  those  courtly  combatants  to  play 
their  gallant  jousts  and  tourneys  in  !  Ex- 
change those  delicately-turned  ivory  markers 
— (work  of  Chinese  artists,  unconscious  of  their 
symbol,  or  as  profanely  slighting  their  true 
application  as  the  arrantest  Kphesiau  journey- 
man that  turned  out  those  little  shrines  for 
the  goddess) — exchange  them  for  little  bits 
of  leather  (our  ancestors'  money),  or  chalk  and 
a  slate  !  " 

The  old  lady,  with  a  smile,  confessed  the 
soundness  of  my  logic  ;  and  to  her  approbation 
of  my  arguments  on  her  favorite  topic  that 
evening,  I  have  always  fancied  myself  indebted 
for  the  legac}^  of  a  curious  cribbage-board,  made 
of  the  finest  Sienna  marble,  which  her  mater- 
nal uncle  (old  Walter  Plumer,  whom  T  have 
elsewhere  celebrated),  brought  with  him  from 
Florence  ; — this,  and  a  trifle  of  five  hundred 
pounds,  came  to  me  at  her  death. 

The  former  bequest  (which  I  do  not  least 
value)  T  have  kept  with  religious  care  ;  though 


i66  mbist  1Ru»39Ct5 

she  herself,  to  confess  a  truth,  was  never  greatly 
taken  with  cribbage.  It  was  an  essentially 
vulgar  game,  I  have  heard  her  say, — disputing 
with  her  uncle,  who  was  very  partial  to  it.  She 
could  never  heartily  bring  her  mouth  to  pro- 
nounce "  Go  " — or  "  That  's  a  goy  She  called 
it  an  ungrammatical  game.  The  pegging  teased 
her.  I  once  knew  her  to  forfeit  a  rubber 
(a  five-dollar  stake),  because  she  would  not 
take  advantage  of  the  turn-up  knave,  which 
would  have  given  it  her,  but  which  she  must 
have  claimed  by  the  disgraceful  tenure  of 
declaring  "  tivo  for  his  heehy  There  is  some- 
thing extremely  genteel  in  this  sort  of  self- 
denial.  Sarah  Battle  was  a  gentlewoman  born. 
Piquet  she  held  the  best  game  at  the  cards 
for  two  persons,  though  she  would  ridicule 
the  pedantry  of  the  terms, — such  as  pique — re- 
pique — the  capot, — they  savored  (she  thought) 
of  affectation.  But  games  for  two,  or  even 
three,  she  never  greatly  cared  for.  She  loved 
the  quadrate,  or  square.  She  would  argue 
thus  :  Cards  are  warfare  ;  the  ends  are  gain, 
with  glory.     But  cards  are  war,  in  disguise  of  a 


llbve,  JBattIc'6  ©pinions  on  liiabiat    167 

sport ;  when  single  adversaries  encounter,  the 
ends  proposed  are  too  palpable.  By  themselves, 
it  is  too  close  a  fight ;  with  spectators,  it  is  not 
much  bettered.  No  looker-on  can  be  interested, 
except  for  a  bet,  and  then  it  is  a  mere  affair  of 
money  ;  he  cares  not  for  your  luck  sympatheti- 
cally^ or  for  your  play.  Three  are  still  worse  ; 
a  mere  naked  war  of  every  man  against  every 
man,  as  in  cribbage,  without  league  or  alli- 
ance ;  or  a  rotation  of  petty  and  contradictory 
interests,  a  succession  of  heartless  leagues,  and 
not  much  more  hearty  infractions  of  them,  as 
in  tradrille.  But  in  square  games  {she  meant 
zuhist),  all  that  is  possible  to  be  attained  in 
card-playing  is  accomplished.  There  are  the 
incentives  of  profit  with  honor,  common  to 
every  species, — though  the  latter  can  be  but 
very  imperfectly  enjoyed  in  those  other  games, 
where  the  spectator  is  only  feebly  a  participa- 
tor. But  the  parties  in  whist  are  spectators  and 
principals  too.  They  are  a  theatre  to  them- 
selves, and  a  looker-on  is  not  wanted.  He  is 
rather  worse  than  nothing,  and  an  imperti- 
nence.     Whist  abhors    neutralitv,  or  interests 


168  Mbist  mua^ets 

beyond  its  sphere.  You  glory  in  some  surpris- 
ing stroke  of  skill  or  fortune,  not  because  a 
cold — or  even  an  interested — bystander  wit- 
nesses it,  but  because  your  partner  sympa- 
thizes in  the  contingency.  You  win  for  two. 
You  triumph  for  two.  Two  are  exalted.  Two 
again  are  mortified  ;  which  divides  their  dis- 
grace, as  the  conjunction  doubles  (by  taking 
off  the  invidiousness)  your  glories.  Two  losing 
to  two  are  better  reconciled,  than  one  to  one 
in  that  close  butchery.  The  hostile  feeling  is 
weakened  by  multiplying  the  channels.  War 
has  become  a  civil  game.  B}-  such  reasonings 
as  these  the  old  lady  was  accustomed  to  defend 
her  favorite  pastime. 

No  inducement  could  ever  prevail  upon  her 
to  play  at  any  game,  where  chance  entered  into 
the  composition,  for  nothing.  Chance,  she 
would  argue, — and  here  again,  admire  the  sub- 
tlety of  her  conclusion, — chance  is  nothing, 
but  where  something  else  depends  upon  it.  It 
is  obvious  that  cannot  be  glory.  What  rational 
cause  of  exultation  could  it  give  to  a  man  to 
turn  up  size  ace  a  hundred  times  together  by 


UXSV6,  :©attle'0  ©pinions  on  Mbtet    169 

himself?  or  before  spectators,  where  no  stake 
was  depending  ?  Make  a  lottery  of  a  hundred 
thousand  tickets  with  but  one  fortunate  num- 
ber, and  what  possible  principle  of  our  nature, 
except  stupid  wonderment,  could  it  gratify  to 
gain  that  number  as  many  times  successively, 
without  a  prize?  Therefore  she  disliked  the 
mixture  of  chance  in  backgammon,  where  it 
was  not  played  for  money.  She  called  it  fool- 
ish, and  those  people  idiots  who  were  taken 
with  a  lucky  hit  under  such  circumstances. 
Games  of  pure  skill  were  as  little  to  her  fancy. 
Played  for  a  stake,  the}'  were  a  mere  system  of 
overreaching.  Played  for  glor}^  they  were  a 
mere  setting  of  one  man's  wit, — his  memory,  or 
combination- faculty  rather — against  another's; 
like  a  mock  engagement  at  a  review,  bloodless 
and  profitless.  She  could  not  conceive  a  game 
wanting  the  spritely  infusion  of  chance,  the 
handsome  excuses  of  good  fortune.  Two  peo- 
ple playing  at  chess  in  a  corner  of  a  room, 
whilst  whist  was  stirring  in  the  centre,  would 
inspire  her  with  insufferable  horror  and  ennui. 
Those     well-cut    similitudes     of    Castles     and 


T70  mbi0t  1ftugciet5 

Knights,  the  imagery  of  the  board,  she  would 
argue  (and  I  think  in  this  case  justly)  were 
entirely  misplaced  and  senseless.  Those  hard 
head-contests  can  in  no  instance  ally  with  the 
fanc3\  They  reject  form  and  color.  A  pencil 
and  dry  slate  (she  used  to  say)  were  the  proper 
arena  for  such  combatants. 

To  those  puny  objectors  against  cards,  as 
nurturing  the  bad  passions,  she  would  retort, 
that  man  is  a  gaming  animal.  He  must  be 
always  trying  to  get  the  better  in  something  or 
other  ; — that  this  passion  can  scarcely  be  more 
safely  expended  than  upon  a  game  at  cards  ; 
that  cards  are  a  temporary  illusion  ; — in  truth,  a 
mere  drama  ;  for  we  do  hut  play  at  being  might- 
ily concerned,  where  a  few  idle  shillings  are  at 
stake,  yet,  during  the  illusion,  we  are  as  might- 
ily concerned  as  those  whose  stake  is  crowns 
and  kingdoms.  They  are  a  sort  of  dream-fight- 
ing ;  much  ado  ;  great  battling  and  little  blood- 
shed ;  mighty  means  for  disproportioned  ends  ; 
quite  as  diverting,  and  a  great  deal  more  in- 
noxious, than  many  of  those  more  serious 
games  of  life  which  men  play,  without  esteeming 
them  to  be  such. 


/IBrs,  ^Battle's  ©pinions  on  Mbist    lyr 


with  great  deference  to  the  old  lady's  judg- 
ment in  these  matters,  I  think  I  have  experi- 
enced some  moments  in  my  life,  when  playing 
at  cards  for  nothing  has  even  been  agreeable. 
When  I  am  in  sickness,  or  not  in  the  best 
spirits,  I  sometimes  call  for  the  cards,  and  play 
a  game  at  piquet  for  love  with  my  cousin 
Bridget— Bridget  Elia. 

I  grant  there  is  something  sneaking  in  it  ; 
but  with  a  toothache,  or  a  sprained  ankle, — 
when  you  are  subdued  and  humble, — you  are 
glad  to  put  up  with  an  inferior  spring  of  action. 

There  is  such  a  thing  in  nature,  I  am  con- 
vinced, as  sick  zvhist. 

I  grant  it  is  not  the  highest  style  of  man — I 
deprecate  the  manes  of  Sarah  Battle — she  lives 
not,  alas  !  to  whom  I  should  apologize. 

At  such  times,  those  terms,  which  my  old 
friend  objected  to,  come  in  as  something  ad- 
missible. I  love  to  get  a  tierce  or  a  quatorze, 
though  they  mean  nothing.  I  am  subdued  to 
an  inferior  interest.  Those  shadows  of  winning 
amuse  me. 

That  last  game  I  had  with  my  sweet  cousin 
(I  capotted  her) — (dare  I  tell  thee,  how  foolish 


T72 


Mbidt  tiuQgcte 


I  am  ?) — I  wished  it  might  have  lasted  forever, 
though  we  gained  nothing,  and  lost  nothing  ; 
though  it  was  a  mere  shade  of  play,  I  would  be 
content  to  go  on  in  that  idle  folly  forever.  The 
pipkin  should  be  ever  boiling,  that  was  to  pre- 
pare the  gentle  lenitive  to  my  foot,  which 
Bridget  was  doomed  to  apply  after  the  game 
was  over  ;  and,  as  I  do  not  much  relish  appli- 
ances, there  it  should  ever  bubble.  Bridget 
and  I  should  be  ever  playing. 

Charles  Lamb. 


LADIES'  WHIST. 


NOT  many  years  ago  there  came  from 
America  a  treatise  upou  whist,  containing 
certain  theories  which  were  the  subject  of  hot 
debate  among  our  whist-players  at  home,  and 
which  are  still  known  and  referred  to  as 
"American  leads."  The  latest  ideas  that  have 
been  contributed  by  the  United  States  on  the 
subject  of  the  game  are  hardly-  so  useful  or 
worthy  of  discussion  ;  but  as  they  throw  a 
curious  and  unexpected  light  upon  a  game 
played  by  ladies — which  is  not  whist,  although 
they  call  it  by  that  name — we  are  unwilling  to 
let  them  pass  altogether  in  silence.  It  M'ould 
appear  from  the  American  papers  that  the 
ladies  of  New  York  have  decided  that  whist  is 
an  excellent  opportunity  for  displaying  the 
173 


174  Timbist  IRugcicta 

charms  of  their  persons,  and  are  become  so 
enamored  of  the  game  in  consequence,  that 
there  is  a  most  unusual  and  fashionable  de- 
mand among  them  for  professors  of  the  art — an 
art  which,  in  their  case,  can  not  be  learnt 
from  any  treatises  that  are  extant ;  for  neither 
does  the  ancient  Hoyle  nor  the  more  modern 
Cavendish  say  a  word  about  the  elegances  of 
whist-playing,  or  the  airs  and  graces  to  be 
practised  by  the  players.  Their  professors  are 
required  to  teach  them,  not  how  to  play  a  hand, 
but  how  to  display  a  pretty  hand  and  arm  to 
the  greatest  advantage  ;  a  suit  of  diamonds  is 
not  more  necessary  in  the  pack  than  a  suit  of 
diamonds  upon  their  fingers  ;  and  the  pri\nlege 
of  dealing  ranks  second  to  that  of  shuffling 
the  cards.  They  require  a  professor  to  teach 
them  whist  in  the  same  way  as  Mr.  Turveydrop, 
late  lamented  professor  of  deportment,  would 
have  taught  them  to  play  lawn  tennis.  In  fact, 
his  art  is  merely  supplementary  to  that  of  another 
American  professor,  —  the  Manicure.  This 
latest  development  of  whist-playing  is  not 
likely  to  add  to  the  science  of  the  game ;  but, 


XaDies'  Wibiet  175 

as  it  throws  a  curious  side-light  upon  "ladies* 
whist "  in  general,  it  is  worthy  of  consideration. 

What  we  call  "ladies'  whist,"  what  Charles 
Lamb  called  "sick  whist,"  and  what  we  have 
heard  an  elderly  and  morose  whist-player  de- 
scribe as  "  bumblepuppy" — a  word  with  a  dark 
but  suggestive  meaning— are  all  practically  the 
same  game, — a  very  pleasant  game,  but  not 
whist  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word.  We 
would  not  suggest  that  ladies  cannot  play  the 
strict  game  ;  on  the  contrary,  some  of  them 
play  it  remarkably  well, — witness  the  celebrated 
Sarah  Battle,  for  instance.  But  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  average  lady  whist-player  is 
addicted  to  play  that  is  rather  peculiar  than  sci- 
entific. We  need  not  make  mention  of  those  dear 
ladies  who,  on  sitting  down  at  the  whist-table, 
propound  such  riddles  as — "How  many  cards 
do  you  deal  to  each  person  ?  "  or  "  Does  a  king 
count  more  than  an  ace  ?  " — for  they  are  outside 
the  pale  ;  but  we  will  content  ourselves  with 
speaking  of  the  average  player,  and  by  these 
signs  we  may  know  her. 

She  will  invariably  trj-  to  cheat  in  cutting 


176  iwabist  IRugaets 

for  partners,  for  she  cannot  bear  to  leave  so 
important  a  choice  to  be  decided  by  chance. 
In  dealing,  she  will  begin  ^N-ith  the  greatest  care 
and  deliberation,  but  suddenly  there  will  occur 
to  her  mind  a  story,  which,  with  much  anima- 
tion, she  will  proceed  to  relate  until  the  trump 
is  turned  up  in  the  wrong  place.  She  can  never 
be  persuaded  that  she  has  misdealt  until  the 
cards  have  been  carefully  counted  at  least  three 
times.  Another  time  she  will  beg  her  partner 
to  deal  for  her,  and  oversvhelm  him  with 
reproachful  glances  should  he  turn  up  a  small 
card  for  the  trump.  It  is  easy  to  know  whether 
she  has  taken  up  a  good  or  an  indifferent  hand ; 
if  it  be  a  good  one,  she  never  tires  of  contemplat- 
ing it,  will  arrange  and  re-arrange  it  a  hundred 
times,  while  she  fingers  with  ill-concealed  im- 
patience the  card  that  she  wishes  to  play  ;  if  it 
looks  but  an  indifferent  one,  she,  too,  will 
assume  an  air  of  indifference,  will  gaze  with  an 
abstracted  look  into  the  farther  comers  of  the 
room,  and  drum  upon  the  table  with  the  fingers 
of  one  hand  while  the  other  holds  the  cards 
carelessly  shut  up  in  a  pack.     If  she  has  five 


!iLaDle0'  Tldbist  177 

trumps  in  her  hand,  she  will  not  lead  them, — 
no,  nothing  will  induce  her  to  lead  them,  not 
even  if  her  partner  has  called  for  them.  He 
is  ill-advised  if  he  remonstrates  with  her  after- 
wards. She  looks  at  him  with  the  sweetest 
wonder  in  her  eyes,  as  she  protests  that  she 
never  heard  him.  En  revanche,  in  the  course 
of  the  next  game  she  will  trump  his  best  card, 
and  gather  up  the  trick  with  a  beaming  smile 
of  genial  triumph.  To  do  her  justice,  she  does 
not  often  revoke  ;  when  she  does  revoke,  she 
discovers  her  offence  with  the  prettiest  air  of 
defiance  imaginable,  and  at  least  ten  minutes' 
discussion,  combined  with  the  display  of  all  the 
back  tricks,  are  needed  before  it  can  be  proved 
to  her  satisfaction, — even  then  she  has  a  great 
deal  to  say,  and  leaves  it  to  be  finally  under- 
stood that  not  she  herself,  but  her  partner,  has 
been  most  to  blame  in  this  matter.  Indeed,  he 
is  fortunate  if  the  matter  is  allowed  to  rest 
then,  and  if  he  is  not  subjected  to  a  spirited 
homily  on  the  misleading  nature  of  his  play. 
She  loves,  above  all  things,  to  make  what  she 
calls  a  good  trick, — that  is  to  say,  a  trick  ■v^'ith 


178  Timbist  IFluggets 


lots  of  court  cards  in  it.  If  the  two  of  spades 
be  led,  followed  by  the  four,  she  will  play  a 
knave,  even  though  she  has  the  ace  in  hand, 
because  she  cannot  bear  to  waste  the  latter  upon 
two  such  insignificant  cards  ;  and  it  is  with  feel- 
ings of  unbounded  indignation  that  she  sees 
the  trick  fall  to  the  queen  of  the  fourth  hand. 
The  feelings  of  her  partner  who  led  from  a  king 
need  not  be  described,  because  his  feelings,  of 
course,  are  not  worth  mentioning.  She  also 
loves  to  score  by  honors,  but  she  cannot  endure 
that  her  adversaries  should  hold  them;  if  they 
do  so  too  often,  she  will  have  grave  doubts  as 
to  the  advisability  of  counting  honors  at  all, 
and  will  give  vent  to  some  very  serious  reflec- 
tions upon  the  relative  value  of  good  hands 
and  good  play,  of  blind  chance  and  science. 
The  simple  rules  of  scoring  she  can  never  mas- 
ter ;  she  generally  requests  her  partner  to  mark 
the  score,  but  that  does  not  prevent  her  from 
challenging  the  correctness  of  the  result,  should 
it  not  be  in  her  favor.  Of  all  her  propensities, 
the  most  curious,  the  most  ineradicable,  is  the 
one  that  prompts  her    to   hoard    her   trumps. 


XaMes'  Tffilbfst  179 


Nothing,  as  we  have  already  said,  can  induce 
her  to  lead  them.  She  prefers  to  save  them  up 
as  a  kind  of  bonne  hoiiche,  a  display  of  fireworks 
for  the  end  of  the  game.  She  looks  upon  them 
as  things  that  are  too  precious  for  use  ;  she 
regards  them  with  a  superstitious  reverence. 
Should  her  partner  lead  them,  "  What  ? 
trumps!"  she  exclaims  in  a  tone  of  pained 
surprise  at  his  wasteful  audacity  ;  she  will  play 
her  card  grudgingly,  and  take  the  trick  perhaps, 
but  she  will  not  return  his  lead, — no,  she  can- 
not bring  herself  to  return  his  lead.  There  was 
an  eminent  whist-player,  of  whom  it  was  re- 
lated that,  whenever  he  found  himself  seated 
at  the  whist-table  with  ladies,  he  used  to  tell 
them  the  following  tale  as  a  kind  of  prologue 
to  the  game  :  "  I  once  knew  a  lady  who  held 
five  trumps  in  her  hand,  and  who  failed  to  lead 
them.  She  ended  sadly  "  ; — and  here  his  voice 
sank  to  an  impressive  w^hisper — "she  died  in 
the  workhouse."  Whether  or  not  this  pre- 
cautionary measure  was  attended  with  success 
tradition  does  not  say  ;  we  should  be  inclined 
to  doubt  its  efficacy.     But  to  sum  up  our  lady 


•QBlbist  IRuggets 


whist-player  :  she  is  delightful,  she  is  charming, 
she  is  everj'thing  that  is  good  and  beautiful  to 
look  upon,  but  she  cannot  be  brought  to  regard 
whist  as  a  serious  science ;  as  a  partner  of  our 
joys  and  our  woes,  as  a  partner  of  everything 
else  in  life,  she  is  immeasurably  too  good  for 
us,  but  as  a  partner  at  whist  she  leaves  much  to 
be  desired, — at  whist  one  would  gladly  see  her 
the  partner  of  one's  worst  enemy,  and  then 
make  the  stakes  as  high  as  possible. 

It  is  not  thus  that  all  ladies  play.  It  was  not 
thus  that  Sarah  Battle  played.  And  who  was 
Sarah  Battle  ?  Charles  I^amb  shall  answer  that 
question  in  his  own  words:  "*A  clear  fire,  a 
clean  hearth,  and  the  rigor  of  the  game.'  This 
was  the  celebrated  wish  of  old  Sarah  Battle, 
who,  next  to  her  devotions,  loved  a  good  game 
of  whist," — and  who,  it  would  appear,  played 
an  uncommonly  good  game,  too.  One  can 
imagine  the  old  lady  sitting  very  upright  in- 
deed, with  an  eye  as  clear  and  flashing  as  her 
fire,  with  a  mob-cap  as  white  and  spotless  as 
her  hearth,  and  with  a  rigor  of  deportment  that 
was  unequalled  even  by  the  rigorous  laws  of  her 


Xadics'  mbist  i8i 

favorite  game.  And  one  can  imagine,  also, 
Elia  sitting  opposite  to  her,  with  his  respectful 
admiration  a  good  deal  tempered  by  the  fearful 
timidity  and  awe  inspired  by  his  uncompromis- 
ing partner.  To  only  one  weakness  did  she  con- 
fess, and  that  onl)^  in  the  strictest  confidence  : 
she  confessed  that  hearts  was  her  favorite  suit. 
This  alone  would  serve  to  show  how  old- 
fashioned  she  was,  and  how  long  ago  she  must 
have  lived.  Nowadays,  if  any  lady  could  be 
brought  to  confess  to  such  a  preference,  it 
would  be  for  diamonds.  On  the  other  hand, 
she  did  not  approve  of  playing  for  love  ;  she 
considered,  and  rightly,  too,  that  some  kind  of 
stake  was  necessary  to  add  a  point  and  a  zest  to 
the  game.  Whist  she  declared  to  be  the  best 
of  all  games  that  she  knew,  because  the  partner- 
ship of  two  players  divided  the  losses  while  it 
doubled  the  glory  of  winning.  Probably  old 
Sarah  Battle,  as  well  as  Talleyrand,  would  have 
found  a  triste  vieillesse  without  the  solace  of 
cards.  But  even  while  he  admired  the  thorough- 
ness and  soundness  of  Sarah  Battle's  views, 
Elia  could  not  refrain  from  putting  in  a  plea 


1 82  'Wdbigt  1Flugaet3 

for  what  he  called  "  sick  whist  "  ;  and  we  our- 
selves must  confess  to  a  sneaking  liking  for 
that  humble  game,  although  we  may  seem  to 
have  pointed  at  it  with  the  finger  of  scorn.  It 
w^as  "sick  whist"  that  the  immortal  Mr.  Pick- 
wick pla^-ed  at  Dingley  Dell  with  old  Mrs. 
Wardle  for  his  partner  ;  but  it  was  a  very  dif- 
ferent whist  that  he  played  at  Bath  in  company 
with  Lady  Snuphanuph,  Mrs.  Colonel  Wugsby, 
and  Miss  Bolo,  and  probably  he  preferred  the 
first  to  the  rigor  of  the  second  game.  On  the 
latter  occasion,  if  we  remember  rightly,  his 
partner,  Miss  Bolo,  "rose  from  the  table  con- 
siderably agitated,  and  went  straight  home  in  a 
flood  of  tears,  and  a  sedan-chair."  That  is  a 
failing  shared  by  all  ladies,  even  the  best 
players  ;  though  they  are  generally  careless 
of  the  stakes,  they  cannot  bear  to  lose.  But 
what  would  Miss  Battle  or  Miss  Bolo  have  said 
to  the  whist  of  New  York  ?  What  would  they 
have  said  ! 

The  Spectator. 


WHISTOLOGY. 


" the  Play  'j  the  thing 

To  touch  the  conscience  of  the  king." 


r)ROBABIvY  human  ingenuity  has  not  dis- 
A  played  itself  in  any  discovery  more  than 
by  the  various  modes  it  has  invented  to  read  the 
character,  and  detect  the  temperament,  of  indi- 
viduals. This  has  been  a  favorite  study  from 
the  very  earliest  ages — chiromancy  existed 
among  the  Chaldeans,  phrenology  is  of  our  own 
day — while  sect  after  sect  preferred  their  claim 
to  attention,  founding  their  several  systems, 
now  upon  physical  attribute,  now  upon  some 
apparently  adventitious  element ;  so  that,  from 
the  facial  angle  or  the  occipital  ridge,  to  the 
shape  of  a  man's  nails,  there  is  nothing  which 
183 


i84  Mbist  Ittuaaet^ 

has  not  been  admitted  as  evidence  of  his  moral 
tendencies,  or  his  intellectual  capacity. 

We  have  given  years  of  patient  thought  and 
labor  to  this  theme.  We  have  revolved  it  long 
and  arduousl}',  discussing  much  with  the  learned 
of  many  lands,  and  our  triumph  it  is  at  length 
to  declare,  that  we  believe  success  has  crowned 
our  life  toil,  and  that  we  have  arrived  at  the 
test  of  all  temperament,  the  gauge  of  morals 
and  the  measure  of  mind.  That  we  have,  in 
short,  established  an  ordeal  which  no  subtlety 
can  evade,  no  astuteness  escape  from  ;  an  or- 
deal, too,  so  comprehensive  as  to  include  the 
whole  nation  of  men  subjected  to  it,  giving 
the  measure  of  greatness  and  goodness,  little- 
ness or  incapacity,  as  unerringly  as  the  balance 
decides  upon  weight,  and  thus  supplying  to  the 
world,  bored  with  competitive  trials  and  civil 
service  commissions,  one  sure  and  safe  measure 
by  which  it  shall  select  its  public  men. 

Among  the  many  objections  which  will  be 
started  against  his  plan,  there  will  be  none 
more  constantly  put  forward  than  its  extreme 
simplicity — the    old  stumbling-block    of  weak 


MbistoIOQi?  185 


minds,  who  require  that  truth  not  only  should 
see  at  the  bottom  of  the  well,  but  that  the  water 
should  be  muddy  besides.  To  such  persons, 
however,  he  makes  no  appeal.  To  them  he 
says  :  "  Lovers  of  the  inexplicably  confused — 
ye  men  who  worship  complexity  without  con- 
sistency, and  moderation  without  a  purpose — 
go  hence  !  Your  teachers  are  members  of  Par- 
liament !  Your  school-house  is  the  British 
House  of  Commons,  or  a  botanical  lecture-room. 
The  audience  I  seek  is  of  those  eager  for  truth, 
even  though  it  come  in  the  humblest  garb,  and 
with  the  smallest  parade  of  pretension.  To 
them,  then,  do  I  declare,  that  whist  is  the  touch- 
stone of  humanity — the  gauge  and  measure  of 
man."  "  Whist !  "  exclaims  some  rash  objector, 
"  why,  whist  is  a  game — a  mere  game."  Doubt- 
less it  is;  but  is  not  law  a  game  ?  Is  not  medicine 
a  game  ?  Is  not  public  life  in  its  very  highest 
walks  a  game  ?  Is  not  literature  a  game — a 
mere  game,  with  all  its  accidents  of  good  and 
ill,  its  opportunities  gained  or  lost,  its  poor 
hands  occasionally  played  fortunately,  and  its 
trumps  as  often  squandered  ?    To  suppose  that 


i86  'Uabiet  flug^ets 

by  the  word  "game"  deprecation  must  be 
understood,  is  to  make  a  gross  mistake.  All 
the  world  is  a  vast  play-table,  with  the  heaviest 
stake  that  can  be  played  for  on  the  board.  In 
the  same  wa}^,  but  in  a  far  more  applicable 
sense,  that  the  chase  is  said  to  be  mimic  war,  a 
game  may  be  the  counterfeit  of  life,  with  all  its 
vacillating  changes,  its  failures  and  successes, 
its  short-comings  and  its  triumphs,  its  struggles 
and  its  accomplishments. 

"  I  concede  also  this,"  cries  another  and  more 
eager  opponent;  "  but  what  becomes  of  your 
theory  in  the  case  of  those — and  a  large  major- 
ity of  people  they  make — who  do  not  play, 
never  played,  and  probably  never  will  play  it?  " 
To  that  I  reply,  that  where  a  watch  has  no  dial- 
plate  I  do  not  pretend  to  tell  the  hour.  For 
the  sake  of  that  large  and  benighted  class,  I  am 
ready  with  my  sympathy  and  my  sorrow.  I  re- 
gret heartfully  that  so  much  of  intellectual 
culture  has  been  denied  them,  even  to  the  pity- 
ing expression  of  Prince  Talleyrand  to  the  un- 
happy man  who  confessed  he  had  never  learned 
the  game:  **Ah,  my  friend,  what  a  wretched 


mbl0tolO0s  187 


old  age  awaits  you  !  "  To  tell  me  that  the  test 
is  a  fallacy,  because  it  is  not  of  universal  appli- 
cation, is  absurd  ;  for  what  test  is  there  that  has 
such  conditions?  School  experiences,  for  in- 
stance, make  sad  work  of  one's  occipital  ridge. 
I  myself  had  four  of  them  before  I  was  on  the 
"  fifth  form."  Single-stick  will  do  as  much  or 
more  for  your  facial  angle.  A  rowing-match 
against  time  will  contribute  generously  to  the 
characteristic  indications  of  the  palm  of  your 
hand  ;  and  as  to  the  shape  of  your  hat,  if  you 
wear  a  Gibus  or  a  Jim  Crow,  you  may  defy  all 
the  "  experts  "  of  Europe. 

I  go  no  further,  remember,  than  saying  that 
whist  is  the  test  of  those  who  play  it ;  and  I  no 
more  apply  it  to  the  outer  barbarians  who  do 
not,  than  I  would  prescribe  the  ascent  of  Mont 
Blanc  to  a  bishop.  I  am  ready,  as  I  told  you 
above,  to  deplore  tearfully  that  the  number  is 
not  millions.  I  'd  be  pleased  to  think  that  even 
in  our  own  colonies,  scattered  as  they  are  over 
the  universe,  a  rubber  could  always  be  found  ; 
and  that  while  I  write  these  lines — it  is  now 
nearing  miduight — men  were  scoring  the  hon- 


i88  1iabi6t  flugc;ct6 

ors  at  Newfoundland,  and  marking  the  trick  at 
Auckland. 

Let  no  rash  opponent  burst  in  by  saying  :  "Is 
it  thus  he  speaks  of  a  frivolous  pastime  ?  Does 
he  want  to  dignify  as  a  science  a  vulgar  amuse- 
ment, or  establish  as  a  test  of  capacity  mere 
skill  at  a  game  ?  "  Nothing  of  the  kind,  most 
hasty  and  intemperate  of  critics.  With  the 
amount  of  skill  or  ignorance  a  man  may  dis- 
play at  whist  I  have  little  concern.  It  is  not  of 
whist  as  a  game  I  am  treating,  though  I  may 
add,  in  a  parenthesis,  that  when  I  shall  have 
addressed  myself  to  the  subject,  Hoyle  and 
Major  A.  will  figure  at  a  low  mark  in  cheap 
catalogues,  and  even  Deschapelles  may  be  had 
for  the  "binding," 

No  ;  my  present  business  is  with  whist  ethi- 
cally considered — whist  regarded  as  the  emblem 
of  the  man  whisting — and  it  is  in  the  elimina- 
tion of  this  as  a  theory  that  I  lay  claim  to,  the 
honor  of  a  discoverer.  There  may  be  some  who 
will  not  accord  me  the  patience,  slight  though 
it  be,  I  crave  ;  some  are  already  throwing  down 
this  paper ;  some  have  arrived  at  the  condemna- 


•MbistolOGS  isg 


tory  "Pshaw,  what  folly  !  "  But  you,  dear  and 
valued  reader,  are  not  like  these  men — you  will 
hear  me  for  "my  cause." 

Let  me,  then,  start  with  the  declaration  that 
whist  includes  a  large  range  of  high  qualities, 
and  a  great  extent  of  acquirement.  The  great 
whist-player  must  have  patience,  charity,  for- 
giveness, forbearance,  promptitude,  consider- 
able readiness  in  emergency,  fortitude  under 
calamity,  a  clear  faculty  to  calculate  probabili- 
ties, an  admirable  memory,  and  a  spirit  at  once 
self-reliant  and  trustful.  Not  alone  must  he 
be  graced  by  these  bright  endowments,  but  be 
bland  in  manner,  and  a  courtier  in  demeanor, 
and  be  able  to  exercise  every  one  of  these  quali- 
ties at  the  moment  of  requirement,  showing 
himself  at  the  self-same  instant  of  time  mature 
iu  thought,  quiet  in  action — a  Murat  in  pursuit, 
a  Massena  in  resistance,  and  a  D'Orsay  in 
politeness  !  Whist,  you  are  aware,  is  a  perfect 
illustration  of  the  law  of  evidence.  You  are 
given  certain  facts  as  the  basis  by  which  others 
are  to  be  elicited.  Your  partner — I  am  speak- 
ing, of  course,  of  one  deserving  of  that  name. 


igo  Wibist  "UwQQcie 

one  versed  iu  the  game,  educated  in  its  wisest 
precepts,  himself  a  man  of  capacity,  and  ani- 
mated by  that  spirit  of  responsibility  which  is 
the  very  essence  of  a  player,  and  which  whis- 
pers to  him  at  each  moment,  "  It  is  not  my  own 
fate  that  is  -alone  at  stake,  there  is  a  fellow- 
creature  associated  with  me  here  ;  shall  I  by 
this  knave  bring  joy  to  his  heart,  or  will  that 
club  add  another  w^hite  hair  to  his  whiskers?" 
Such  a  man  as  this,  I  say,  gravely  arranging  his 
cards  with  a  mingled  caution  and  quickness, 
leads  a  card,  as  the  French  say,  "invites." 
From  that  moment  the  issue  of  the  cause  opens  : 
his  card  is  the  first  witness  on  the  table  ;  that 
witness  may  be  a  person  of  mark  or  note,  he 
may  be  one  of  the  middle  rank  of  life,  or  some 
humble  creature,  some  deuce  of  diamonds, 
merely  sent  forward,  like  a  picket,  to  fire  a  shot 
and  fall  back.  Whatever  be  the  card,  the  ques- 
tion of  evidence  is  opened,  and  as  speedily  do 
you  ask  yourself:  "What  does  this  imply?" 
The  resources  of  your  own  hand  aid  you  in  the 
answer,  and  you  are  in  an  instant  in  possession 
of  the  motive.  Now  it  may  be  that,  fully  appro- 


Timblstologi?  191 


dating  the  intention,  and  rightfully  estimating 
all  your  partner's  resources,  yet  still  the  amount 
of  support  he  expects  from  yotc  is  not  available. 
Your  object  is,  therefore,  at  once  to  show  him 
that  you  cannot  come  up  to  his  aid,  that  you  are 
weak  in  that  arm  of  the  service,  and  that  the 
order  of  attack  must  be  altered. 

You  were  a  chief  justice  a  moment  back — you 
are  a  general  in  command  now.  The  adversary 
has  played,  and  what  a  flood  of  light  breaks  in 
upon  you  !  You  perceive  immediately  the 
indication  of  strength  in  a  certain  color,  con- 
sequently, the  likelihood  of  weakness  in  some 
other  suit,  since  Fortune  generally  deals  in 
these  caprices  ;  and  thus  thinking,  your  im- 
agination soars  upward  on  the  speculation  of 
that  strength  and  that  weakness.  He  has  this, 
but  not  that ;  he  wishes  for  a  club  ;  he  is  afraid 
of  the  diamonds.  The  fancy  thus  exercised 
attains  an  ease  and  pliancy  you  have  not  experi- 
enced before,  and  you  see,  almost  without  know- 
ing it,  a  pack  !  Now  comes  the  strong  attack — 
or  is  it  really  strong?  Is  not  that  king  led  out 
so  boldly  a  vsingle  card  ?  and  is  this  pretended 


192  TlClbist  BugGCts 

strength  not  weakness,  a  mere  bid  of  the  oppo- 
sition, which  cannot  deceive  an  old  habitue  of 
the  Treasury  benches  ?  Ah,  crafty  politician 
that  you  are,  how  you  have  detected  the  clever 
bid  for  popular  favor  !  but  you  are  not  to  be  the 
dupe  of  such  an  artifice.  You  are  called  on  to 
reply  ;  and  now  what  a  demand  is  suddenly 
made  upon  your  memory,  not  alone  for  ever}' 
card  that  has  been  played — that  is  a  slight 
effort — but  for  every  motive  and  impulse  that 
suggested  the  play,  and  where  the  intention  had 
met  success,  where  failure  ;  why  your  partner 
discontinued  this  or  persisted  in  that ;  from 
what  cause  did  he  slight  that  advance,  w^hy 
seem  to  encourage  that  apparent  failure.  To 
your  gifts  of  Lord  Campbell,  Napier,  and 
Disraeli,  you  now  add  the  calculating  powers  of 
a  Babbage,  all  shrouded  under  the  benevolence 
of  a  bishop,  and  the  bland  urbanity  of  a  lord 
in  waiting. 

As  I  must  not  rob  my  other  and  magnum 
opus  of  details  of  this  sort,  you  will  excuse 
my  pressing  this  theme  any  further.  I  merely 
mean,  by  these  few  and  passing  remarks,  to 


•QClblstoIogi?  193 


call  your  attention  to  the  true  nature  of  the 
game,  and  the  qualities  it  requires.  If  you  see 
by  this  that  the  great  player  must  of  necessity 
be  a  man  of  varied  and  remarkable  gifts,  you 
will  also  perceive  how,  in  the  deficiency  of  such 
qualities,  inferior  performers  exhibit  manifold 
traits  of  this  nature,  the  wants  of  the  intel- 
lectual man  being,  so  to  say,  eked  out  and  sup- 
plied by  the  resources  of  the  moral  man.  The 
great  artist,  perfect  and  complete,  answering  to 
every  demand,  ready  at  any  emergency,  is  a 
grand  and  a  very  imposing  spectacle.  He  stands 
out  like  some  faultless  statue  that  you  walk 
around  with  ever-increasing  admiration.  Still, 
in  the  high  exercise  of  his  genius,  his  true 
nature  is  little  revealed,  for  neither  successes 
elate  nor  reverses  surprise  him,  and  he  is  not  the 
profitable  subject  of  contemplation. 

It  is  your  erring  mortal,  your  whister,  "not 
too  good  for  human  nature's  daily  food,"  your 
man  of  weaknesses  and  frailties,  yielding  to 
temptation  here,  trustful  to  rashness  there ; 
now  credulous,  now  doubting ;  over-confident 
at  one  moment,  over-cowardly  the  next ;  spend- 


194  TlUbist  muggcts 

thrift  to-day,  miserly  to-morrow  ;  rash  with  his 
aces,  and  a  niggard  of  some  beggarly  small 
trump,  that  might  have  spared  his  partner 
an  "  honor."  This  is  the  man  for  our  purpose  ; 
watch  him,  mark  him,  even  for  one  rubber,  and 
you  '11  Jcnow  more  of  his  real  innate  actual 
nature  than  his  wife  knows,  who  has  been 
solacing  and  scolding  him  for  five-and-twenty 
years.  Look  at  the  very  manual  indecision  with 
which  he  extricates  that  card  from  his  hand, 
and  seems,  even  as  he  plays,  half  to  recall  it. 
Mark  how  his  eyes  follow  it — his  own  card — 
not  the  adversary's,  nor  his  partner's,  but  his 
own  blessed  four  of  spades,  and  a  worthless 
adventure,  of  no  value  to  any  one,  but  a  whole 
argosy  to  him,  for  it  was  once  his,  and  he 
played  it.  That  man's  heart  is  all  selfishness. 
I  know  it.  I  see  it.  You  may  argue  till  you 
are  blue,  but  you  '11  not  persuade  me  to  the  con- 
trary. Place  him  in  a  cabinet  to-morrow,  and 
he  '11  only  have  a  thought  for  the  measure  he 
initiates  himself — a  measure  probably  of  equal 
pretension  with  his  four  of  spades.  He  is  a 
one-idea'd  creature,  and  the  one  idea  is  himself. 


TUflbistoloo^  195 


"  Who  led  that  card  ?  How  is  all  this  ?  What 's 
to  play?"  exclaims  the  sandy-eyebrowed  man, 
with  his  long  upper  lip,  and  you  see  one  who  is 
always  asking  his  way  in  life  :  begging  this 
man  to  explain  that  leader  in  the  Times,  and 
beseeching  every  one  to  guide  him  somewhere. 
He  is  a  bore,  too,  of  that  terrible  category,  the 
lackadaisical,  making  physical  cold-blooded- 
ness stand  for  breeding,  and  thinking  himself 
the  pink  of  fashion  when  supremely  imperti- 
nent. Well,  he  '11  meet  his  reward  from  that 
sharp-nosed  old  gentleman  with  the  upstanding 
hair,  and  who  has  just  turned  the  trick,  as  he 
would  turn  the  key  on  a  prisoner.  Watch  the 
unrelenting  severity  of  that  wicked  old  face  as 
he  leads  out  his  trumps.  Would  n't  he  burn 
heretics  !  Would  n't  he  thrash  his  nigger,  think 
ye  !  No,  he'll  not  leave  you  one — not  one,  sir; 
his  memory  has  not  begun  to  fail  him  yet,  and 
he  remembers  you  have  the  ten,  though  you 
have  just  played  the  knave.  There  is  a  savage 
sort  of  haste,  too,  in  the  way  he  gathers  up  the 
tricks — he  is  afraid  your  sufferings  might  have 
even  a  second's  respite.  And  oh,  poor  benighted 


195  mbist  Budgets 

little  man  with  the  large  cravat  and  the  mosaic 
pin,  what  possessed  you  to  keep  all  your  good 
cards  to  be  trumped,  holding  back  ^-our  notes  till 
the  bank  broke  ?  You  were  a  miser,  that 's  the 
secret  of  it,  and  you  thought  to  carry  off  your 
wealth  with  you  at  last.  At  all  events,  you 
could  n't  part  with  it.  It  was  so  pleasant  to 
turn  it  over  and  look  at  it,  and  mutter,  "  Oh,  I 
could  make  a  show  if  I  would  ;  but  I  won't.  I  '11 
leave  it  to  those  silly  fools  there  to  squander 
their  substance  ;  but  I  '11  die  rich  !  " 

We  now  come  to  the  distrustful  player,  the 
man  who  has  no  faith  in  his  partner,  and  who, 
forgetful  that  his  efficiency  is  entirely  depend- 
ent upon  a  thorough  good  understanding 
with  his  colleague,  bores  along  alone  and  un- 
seconded.  This  is  a  lamentable  spectacle,  and 
full  of  its  moral  teaching.  You  see  such  a  man 
exactly  as  he  would  figure  in  the  real  world  of 
life,  ever  encountering  difficulties  which  only 
need  the  slightest  amount  of  assistance  to  com- 
bat, but  which,  unaided,  were  insurmountable. 
You  see  him  marring  and  deranging  what 
might  have  proved  skilful  combinations  but  for 


iMIlblstoIogs  197 


his  dogged  and  stubborn  self-reliance.  Next  in 
order  of  hopelessness  is  the  uncertain,  wavering 
player ;  the  man  deterred  by  every  chance 
obstacle,  and  continually  altering  his  plans  to 
suit  some  supposed  necessity.  He  flies  from 
hearts  to  spades,  and  from  spades  to  diamonds  ; 
and  if  you  watch  him  in  the  actual  world,  you  will 
see  such  a  man  desert  his  party  in  the  House,  or 
his  friends  out  of  it,  whenever  an  adverse  in- 
cident seems  to  threaten  them  with  misfortune. 
Ivook  at  that  careless  fellow  with  the  merry 
eye  and  the  laughing  mouth,  and  tell  me,  as  he 
plays  out  all  his  best  cards  one  after  the  other, 
if  you  do  not  recognize  the  spendthrift,  that 
only  lives  on  the  present,  and  takes  no  heed  for 
the  future  ?  One  half  of  that  abundance  he  is 
dissipating  would  have  achieved  a  victory  if 
only  expended  with  judgment  and  discretion  ; 
but  he  does  n't  care  for  that  ;  does  n't  care 
when  his  melancholy  partner  explains  how  and 
and  why  they  have  been  beaten,  but,  with  some 
wise  saw  about  being  jolly  under  difficulties,  is 
quite  ready  to  begin  again,  and  be  worsted,  as 
he  was  before. 


iqS  mbi5t  1rtuc;c}ct6 

Is  there  a  mood  of  niau,  is  there  an  element 
of  mind,  or  quality  of  temper,  we  have  not  here 
before  us  ?  The  sanguine,  the  hopeless,  the 
rash,  the  timid,  the  impetuous,  the  patient,  the 
forgiving,  the  relentless,  the  easily  baffled,  and 
the  stubbornly  courageous  man,  are  all  there  ; 
and  there  is  also  the  man  of  memory  and  the 
man  of  none.  The  man  playing  out  his  game — 
just  as  he  lives — from  hand  to  mouth  ;  no  calcu- 
lation, no  foresight,  no  care  for  the  future  in  his 
heart ;  and  there  is,  sad  spectacle  !  the  wretched 
creature  who  loses  his  game  rather  than  play 
some  paltry  trump  ;  and  that  man — take  my 
word  for  it — would  not  spend  sixpence  in  a 
cordial  to  restore  life  to  the  poor  fellow  rescued 
from  drowning.  Don't  tell  me  this  judgment 
of  him  is  harsh,  hasty  or  cruel.  I  have  made 
these  men  my  study.  I  have  tracked  them 
home  at  night,  and  seen  them  walk  drearily 
back  to  their  lodgings  in  the  rain,  rather  than 
bestow  a  shilling  for  a  cab,  though  the  rheuma- 
tism and  the  cough  will  turn  out  to  be  a  costlier 
luxury  afterwards. 

Another  varietv  also  deserves  mention,  and  it 


11Clbf0toloa^  199 


is  one  with  which  every  whister  must  be  famil- 
iar. The  man  W'ho  cares  nothing  about  the 
game  and  everything  for  the  stake ;  the  man 
who  has  no  interest  in  the  changeful  fortunes 
of  the  fight,  but  is  intently  interested  in  the 
result,  and  everlastingly  inquiring,  "  What  was 
the  amount  of  the  rubber  ?  "  as  if  the  arithmetic 
was  the  real  subject  for  anxiety.  Such  are,  I 
grieve  to  own,  the  class  who  form  successful 
men  in  the  world.  They  look  only  to  "what 
pays,"  and  in  this  one-idea'd  pursuit  of  the 
profitable,  they  always  beat  out  of  the  field 
those  poor  souls  who  have  noti(jus  of  credit, 
character,  and  distinction. 

As  for  that  sanguine  but  not  strong-headed 
individual  who  never  suspects  the  adversary's 
strength,  in  the  suit  he  has  just  led,  because  it 
has  been  suffered  to  go  round  once  unmolested, 
I  see  the  germs  of  an  unfortunate  speculator, 
the  victim  of  Spanish  "  Threes" — "  Poyais  pre- 
ference shares." 

But  as  "there  are  manners  of  men,"  so  are 
there  whist-players,  and  it  would  only  be  to 
catalogue  the  moods  of  the  one  to  enumerate 


Wbt6t  muasetg 


the  types  of  the  other  :  The  blindly  hopeful 
creature,  that  will  play  his  game  out  without 
the  faintest  shadow  of  a  chance  in  his  favor, 
true  emblem  of  the  fellow  who  actually  does 
not  know  he  is  ruined  till  he  reads  his  name  as 
bankrupt  in  the  Gazette ;  and  his  antitype,  the 
melancholy,  despondent  man,  who,  wnth  four 
by  honors,  expects  defeat,  portraying  the  rich 
annuitant,  who  awakes  every  morning  with  the 
horror  that  he  is  to  end  his  days  in  a  poor-house. 
And  let  us  not  forget  the  plodding,  hesitating, 
long-meditating  player,  who  will  not  lay  down 
on  the  table  some  miserable  deuce  of  clubs 
without  five  minutes  of  what  he  fancies  to  be 
consideration.  Go  not  to  that  man  with  a  sub- 
scription-list for  a  poor  family,  ask  not  him  to 
join  you  in  a  little  effort  to  buy  winter  clothing 
for  the  naked,  or  firing  for  the  shivering  and 
destitute  ;  he  will  listen  to  you  for  an  hour,  if 
you  like,  but  he  wnll  never  give  3-ou  a  farthing. 
I  have  taken  all  the  dark  sides  of  the  medal 
here,  as  my  readers  will  perceive.  I  have  re- 
corded none  of  those  grand,  heroic,  self-devot- 
ing traits  with  which  whist  abounds  j    I  have 


mbistoioas 


said  nothing  about  those  noble  bursts  of  con- 
fidence with  which  this  man  will  sacrifice 
his  all  that  his  partner  may  be  triumphant ;  as 
little  mention  have  I  made  of  those  beautiful 
little  episodes  of  charity,  those  touching  in- 
stances of  tender  pity  with  which  your  great 
player  overlooks  the  irregularities  of  some  weak 
and  erring  adversary.  Wonderfully  affecting 
incidents,  too,  when  one  remembers  that  they 
come  out  in  the  very  ardor  of  conflict :  it  is 
giving  quarter  in  the  thick  of  the  battle,  and 
amidst  the  dead  and  the  dying.  In  fact,  I  am 
only  fearful  that  if  I  but  venture  out  farther  on 
the  vast  ocean  of  Illustration,  I  may  never  see 
land  again.  Perhaps,  however,  I  have  set  the 
stone  in  motion,  and  other  stronger  hands  will 
now  lend  it  the  impulse  of  a  push.  Perhaps  the 
great  moralist  of  the  age,  whoever  he  be,  will 
revolve  this  theory  in  his  mind,  and  render  its 
application  popular  and  easy.  Perhaps  who 
knows  but  the  wise  men  they  call  Civil  Service 
Commissioners  may  introduce  whist  into  the 
list  of  subjects  for  examination,  and  tide-waiters 
be  questioned  on  the  "  odd  trick  "  ? 


WihiBt  IRuatjets 


At  all  events,  I  trust  that  I  have  shown  that 
whist  has  its  ethical  phase :  that  no  man  play- 
ing it  can,  no  matter  what  his  proficiency  or  his 
ignorance,  no  matter  how  eager  or  indifferent 
he  may  be,  no  matter  how  subtle  to  subdue 
emotion,  or  how  guarded  to  cloak  his  wishes, — 
no  man,  I  repeat,  can  shroud  his  real  nature  in 
obscurity,  but  must  stand  out  revealed,  and  de- 
clared in  his  true  character.  The  test  is  one 
that  no  subterfuge  can  escape  from,  no  inge- 
nuity evade. 

"  Le  style  c'est  I'homine,''  was  the  old  maxim 
of  a  once  famed  philosopher,  but  a  wiser  age 
repudiates  the  adage,  and  proclaims  that  it  is 
"  whist  is  the  man."  With  this  declaration  I 
have  done.  "■  Exegi  monumentum  "/  to  others 
I  bequeath  all  the  benefit  of  my  researches,  all 
the  profit  of  my  labors.  The  rubber  is  over. 
Good  night  ! 

All  The  Year  Round. 


,^. 


WHIST  AT  OUR  CLUB. 

,  A  T  our  club,  which  is  a  most  respectable 
^*^  club,  a  good  deal  of  whist  has  been 
played  during  the  last  teu  or  twenty  years. 
The  time  was  when  men  used  to  meet  together 
o'  nights  for  the  sake  of  cards  and  gambling. 
It  was  thus  that  Fox  and  his  friends  used  to — I 
was' going  to  say  amuse  themselves,  but  I  fear 
that  with  them  the  diversion  went  beyond 
amusement.  But  with  us  at  our  club  there  is 
nothing  of  that  kind.  There  are  perhaps  a 
dozen  gentlemen,  mostly  well  stricken  in  years, 
who,  having  not  much  else  to  do  with  their 
afternoons,  meet  together  and  kill  the  hours 
between  lunch  and  dinner.  I  do  not  know 
that  they  could  find  a  wiser  expedient  for 
relieving  the  tedium  of  their  latter  years.  I 
203 


204  mmst  tilXQQCtB 


have  said  that  they  have  nothing  to  do  with 
their  afternoons.  I  doubt  whether  many  of 
them  have  much  to  do  with  their  mornings. 
Breakfast,  the  newspaper,  perhaps  a  letter  or  two, 
with  a  little  reading,  carry  them  on  to  lunch 
and  their  glass  of  sherry.  After  that  there  may 
be  a  little  walking,  or  perhaps  some  gentle  exer- 
cise on  an  easy  cob,  a  slight  flutter  of  impati- 
ence, and  then  at  length  the  hour  of  delight  has 
come.  Between  three  and  four  the  party  is  as- 
sembled, and  the  delight  is  reached  which,  for 
us,  makes  easy  the  passage  to  the  grave. 

Every  one  knows  how  Talleyrand,  the  re- 
puted father  of  all  modern  French  good  say- 
ings is  supposed  to  have  remarked  that  he  who 
did  not  learn  to  play  cards  was  preparing  for 
himself  a  melancholy  old  age.  In  looking 
round  at  these  bald,  gray,  wrinkled,  and  some- 
what infirm  companions  of  mine,  who  are 
gentlemen,  and  have,  some  of  them,  done  some- 
thing in  the  world,  I  am  often  disposed -to 
declare  to  myself  that  whoever  said  that  saying 
spoke  the  truth.  If  we  were  not  playing  whist, 
what  should  we  be  doing  ? 


Wibiet  at  ©ur  Club  205 


There  comes  a  time  of  life  when  the  work  of 
life  naturally  ceases.  The  judge  becomes  deaf 
and  resigns.  The  active  civil  servant  is  active  no 
longer,  and  either  takes  a  pension,  or  escapes 
early  from  his  desk.  The  lawyer  has  made 
his  fortune,  or  is  forced  to  give  way  to  newer 
men.  The  capacity  for  twelve  hours  of  labor 
is  at  any  rate  gone.  Books  cannot  be  read  for 
ever.  If  the  mind  would  stand  it — which  it 
will  not — the  eyes  would  fail.  Cricket,  rowing, 
deer-stalking,  even  hunting  and  shooting  are 
all  gone.  The  women  will  not  let  you  make 
love  to  them — unless  you  are  rich  and  a  bache- 
lor, and  then  the  love-making  is  soon  over. 
What  else  should  an  old  gentleman  do  ?  If  he 
can  sa}'  his  prayers  all  the  time,  or  give  him- 
self up  to  continued  meditation  and  the  *'  label- 
ling of  his  thoughts" — if  he  can  dream 
Platonic  Utopias,  or  theorize  in  his  arm-chair 
on  that  still  undiscovered  "greatest  good" — 
then  he  may  sink  down  quietly  without  the 
assistance  of  a  card-table.  To  some,  but  only 
to  a  few,  can  it  be  given  to  relieve  the  tedium 
of  a  fai7i^atU  existence  by  the  consciousness 


2o5  mbist  1FluG9et5 

of  the  dignity  of  a  parliamentary  bench.  If 
you  can  become  a  legislator,  you  may  get 
through  your  hours,  uneasily  indeed,  but  with 
the  satisfaction  of  self-importance.  But  if 
none  of  these  things  suffice  for  you  or  be  open 
to  you,  it  will  be  well  for  you  when  3-ou  are  old 
that  you  shall  know  something  of  the  rules  of 
whist  and  belong  to  such  a  club  as  ours. 

I  do  not  think  that  there  is  among  us  much 
propensity  to  gambling.  Some  have,  indeed,  a 
keen  eye  to  their  money  ;  but  they  look  rather 
to  holding  themselves  harmless,  and  having 
their  amusement  for  nothing,  than  to  the  mak- 
ing of  any  profit.  One  or  two  are  perhaps 
buoyed  up  with  the  hope  that  the  day  may 
come  when  they  shall  make  something,  though 
the  day  never  seems  to  come.  Some  are  mani- 
festly indifferent,  taking  and  paying  their  shil- 
lings without  a  feeling.  I  do  not  think  that 
these  get  so  much  amusement  out  of  the  pro- 
ceeding as  it  ought  to  give.  We  have  one  old 
gentlemen  who  evidently  likes  to  pay.  The 
glory  of  making  a  trick  is  all  the  world  to  him ; 
but  though  he  has  played  cards  for  many  years. 


mbi6t  at  ©ur  CluD  207 

he  never  seems  quite  to  have  reconciled  him- 
self to  the  idea  of  taking  money  out  of  another 
man's  pocket. 

We  play  shilling  points.  Any  member  of 
the  club  who  comes  into  that  room  can  join 
any  table  which  is  not  yet  full  at  shilling 
points.  And,  as  a  rule,  this  modest  limit  is 
preserved.  If,  now  and  again,  two  gentlemen 
choose  to  bet  a  sovereign,  no  complaint  is 
made.  The  habit  is  distasteful  to  the  majority ; 
but  a  club  is  a  club,  and  men  like  to  feel  them- 
selves free.  As  long  as  the  rules  of  the  club 
are  not  broken,  the  co-partners  at  the  table  can- 
not complain.  In  this  way  occasionally  a  little 
excitement  is  added ;  but  I  do  not  think  that  the 
life,  the  spirit,  the  noise,  the  evident  vivacity, 
and  the  generally  happy  disposition  of  the 
room,  depend  upon  the  gambling.  If  it  did, 
there  would  be  no  content ;  for  I  know  no  one 
who  wins,  and  no  one  who  loses.  In  spite  of 
these  sovereign  bets,  which  perhaps  are  becom- 
ing a  little  more  frequent  than  they  used  to  be, 
I  do  not  think  that  in  our  club  anybody  is  ever 
injured  in  the  way  of  money.     They  can  afford 


2o8  Timbist  1Flugget0 

to  pay  the  stakes  they  lose,  and  are  none  the 
better  for  what  they  win.  It  is  not  thence  that 
the  excitement  comes,  and  yet  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  excitement. 

Excitement  is  a  great  step  towards  happiness, 
particularly  to  those  who  are  over  sixty.  Cicero 
has  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  orator  Antony  an 
opinion  which  certainly  was  not  his  own.  He 
makes  Antony  say  that  leisure — the  doing  of 
nothing — is  the  sweetest  resource  of  old  age. 
Old  men  have  often  said  so  ;  but  foxes  also  have 
often  said  that  grapes  were  sour.  Old  men  are 
as  fond  of  activity,  as  much  given  to  excite- 
ment, as  prone  to  keep  themselves  busy,  and 
to  have  what  we  may  call  a  full  life,  as  their 
juniors ;  but  these  delights  do  not  come  easily 
to  them. 

The  failure  in  our  powers,  which  envious 
nature  prepares  for  us,  affects  our  body,  and 
perhaps  unfortunately  our  minds,  before  it 
touches  our  walls.  The  lean  and  slippered 
pantaloon  would  be  as  full  of  wise  instances  as 
the  justice,  if  he  could  get  any  one  to  hear  him  ; 
and  the  justice  would,  but  for  shame,  be  as  full 


Timbist  at  ©ur  CluB  209 


of  strange  oaths,  and  as  jealous  in  honor,  if  not 
as  quick  in  quarrel,  as  the  soldier.  The  old  man 
likes  excitement  if  he  can  find  it ;  and  they  who 
frequent  the  next  room  to  the  whist-room  at  our 
club  say  that  we  have  been  successful  in  our 
search.  Voices  could  not  be  so  loud,  contradic- 
tions so  frequent,  rebukes  so  rife — there  could 
not  be  such  rising  storms,  nor  then  such  silent 
lulls,  unless  the  occupation  in  hand  were  one 
on  which  those  occupied  were  very  much  intent. 
The  silence  is  as  notable  as  the  voices — and  they 
are  very  notable  ;  a  dozen  men  could  not  be  so 
suddenly  and  so  awfully  silent  unless  engaged 
on  something  which  fills  their  very  souls  with 
solicitude.  And  certainly  no  dozen  men  could 
make  such  a  row — gentlemen  too,  old  gentle- 
men, respectable  old  gentlemen — unless  they 
were  very  much  in  earnest. 

I  think  the  charm  in  our  club  comes  from  the 
fact  that  no  one  plays  very  well,  but  that  we 
know  enough  of  the  rules  to  talk  about  them 
and  to  think  that  we  play  in  accordance  with 
them.  All  the  recognized  treatises  on  the  game 
are  in  the  room.     We  have  taken  great  care  on 


2IO  iMbiet  'UwQQCts 


that  point ;  and  our  allusions  to  Clay,  Cavendish, 
and  the  great  professors  are  so  frequent  as  to 
make  an  unaccustomed  bystander  suppose  that 
not  one  of  us  is  ignorant  of  any  one  enunciated 
law.  But  the  knowledge  of  laws  and  the 
practice  of  them  are  different  things,  especially 
when  the  practice  has  to  be  instantaneous,  and 
w^hen  its  eflScacy  depends  on  the  memory  of 
all  that  has  gone  before.  Now  I  find  that  at  our 
club  everybody  remembers  his  own  cards,  or, 
at  any  rate,  those  on  which  he  has  based  his 
hopes  of  success,  while  no  one  remembers  his 
partner's  cards.  But  that  the  latter  is  the 
special  memorj^  which  his  partner  expects  from 
him.  Therefore,  there  is  often  a  diversity  of 
opinion. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  the  injustice  of  each 
is  never  apparent  to  himself— the  injustice  of 
always  demanding  from  another  exactly  that 
trouble  which  the  unjust  player  never  takes 

himself.     "Good   !     I  played    you    the 

eight  of  spades,  and  you  trumped  it  with  the 
last  trump,  though  you  must  have  known  that 
the  seven  was  the  only  one  left !  "      Then  the 


TlClbtst  at  ©ur  Club 


enraged  speaker  tears  his  hair  and  looks  around. 
Or  perhaps  he  is  of  a  saturnine  nature — more 
severe,  but  less  demonstrative.  "  Well,  Dr. 
Pintale,  if  you  call  that  whist,  I  don't."  Upon 
that  the  severe  one  purses  his  lips  together  and 
is  silent,  intending  to  impress  upon  the  com- 
pany around  a  conviction  that  Dr.  Pintale's 
capacity  for  whist  is  of  such  a  nature  that  words 
would  be  altogether  thrown  away  upon  him. 
Dr.  Pintale  for  the  moment  is  cowed.  There  is 
not  a  word  to  be  said  in  excuse.  No  doubt  he 
has  thrown  aw^ay  a  trick  which  a  good  player 
would  have  saved.  He  knows  in  his  own  heart 
that  his  dear  friend,  vSir  Nicholas  Bobtail,  the 
partner  who  has  just  so  severely  punished  him, 
and  who,  in  any  other  matter,  would  move 
heaven  and  earth  to  succor  him,  never  remem- 
bers the  sevens  and  eights  himself.  Sir  Nicholas 
makes  as  many  blunders  as  anybody  in  the 
club,  but  has  a  sharp  way  of  snarling,  which 
often  saves  him  from  the  criticism  of  his  friends. 
Poor  Dr.  Pintale  is  meekness  itself,  till  roused 
by  exaggerated  injuries,  when  sometimes  he 
will  saj^  a  word.     "  I  do  call  that  rather  hard," 


212  TlClbist  mugcietg 


continues  Sir  Nicholas,  turning  to  one  of  his 
adversaries,  "With  that  trick  we  should  just 
have  been  out,  and  I  have  n't  won  a  rubber  this 
afternoon."  Poor  Pintale  sits  quiet  and  repent- 
ant, but  patting  his  soft  fat  hands  together  under 
the  table  as  the  irritation  rises  to  his  gentle 
heart.  ''I  wish  3-ou  'd  tell  me  why  you  did  it, 
Dr.  Pintale?''  asks  Sir  Nicholas,  as  though  he 
really  wanted  information  on  the  matter. 

Pintale  would  not  have  minded  it  so  much 
had  he  not  been  called  "  Doctor."  The  Doctor 
and  Sir  Nicholas  have  been  friends  for  the  last 
thirty  years.  For  all  these  years  they  have 
been  "  Bobtail  "  and  "  Pintale ''  to  each  other, 
long  before  any  decorative  letters,  any  D.  C.  L. 
or  K.  C.  B.  had  been  appended  to  their  names. 
Either  would  have  been  prepared  to  write  an 
epitaph  for  the  other,  attributing  to  him  all  the 
virtues  which  can  adorn  a  man,  a  friend,  and  a 
Christian.  But  when  you  have  petted  up  your 
penultimate  best  card,  and  have  succeeded  in 
extracting  all  the  trumps  except  that  happy 
remnant  in  your  partner's  hand  ;  when  all  your 
manceuvres  have  been  successful,  and  fortune 


TlHlbist  at  ®ur  Clul)  213 


has  sat  square  upou  your  brow  ;  when  the 
delightful  moment  has  come  for  showing  to 
friends  and  foes  how  complete  has  been  your 
strategy, — then  to  be  crushed  by  the  fatuous 
inattention  of  your  own  ally — that  is  too  much 
for  human  friendship  !  It  is  as  though  one's 
own  wife  should  turn  against  one  in  one's  own 
profession. 

"I  wonder  why  he  did  do  it?"  said  Sir 
Nicholas,  turning  round  to  one  of  the  expectant 
bystanders. 

"I  've  seen  you  make  the  same  mistake 
yourself  fifty  times,"  says  the  Doctor,  pressed 
beyond  his  bearing. 

"That 's  a  mere  tu  quoque,'"  says  the  K.  C.  B. 

"I  've  seen  you  do  it  a  hundred  times — two 
hundred  times,"  rejoins  the  D.  C.  L.,  very  red 
in  the  face.  Then  the  door  is  opened,  and 
somebody  looks  in  from  the  passages  ;  after 
which  the  matter  is  allowed  to  drop,  the  Doctor 
having  evidently  become  a  little  ashamed 
of  himself. 

The  wonderful  thing  in  whist  is  this, — that 
ignorance  of  any  of  those   intricate   rules   by 


214  IKIlbi^t  IRu^gcts 


which  the  game  is  governed  is  regarded  as  so 
disgraceful  that  nobody  will  admit  it  ;  nor  will 
any  one  allow  that  he  is  wanting  in  that  perfect 
and  prolonged  practice  without  which  no  pro- 
ficient in  any  art  can  bring  his  rules  to  bear  at 
the  moment  in  which  they  are  wanted  ;  and  yet 
players  generally  would  be  ashamed  to  have  it 
supposed  that  they  had  devoted  to  a  mere  game 
of  cards  so  great  a  proportion  of  their  intellect 
and  their  time  as  to  have  mastered  these  rules, 
and  to  have  familiarized  themselves  with  the 
practice.  Who  would  not  be  ashamed  to  be 
known  as  a  first-class  billiard-player,  and  to  con- 
fess an  intimacy  so  close  with  pockets,  chalk, 
and  ivory  balls  as  to  have  left  himself  time  for 
no  more  worthy  pursuit  ?  For  to  play  billiards 
as  billiards  can  be  played  requires  the  euerg>^  of 
a  life.  Nor  even  will  an  ambitious  man,  or  one 
who  desires  success  in  a  profession,  be  anxious 
to  be  accounted  among  the  grand  chess-players 
of  the  day.  The  art  of  chess-plajnng,  excellent 
as  it  is,  does  not  lead  to  results  great  enough  in 
themselves  to  justify  the  expenditure  of  labor 
and  intelligence  which  is  necessary  for  perfec- 


Timblet  at  ®ur  Club  215 


tion.  We  may  say  the  same  of  all  those  amuse- 
meuts  which  have  by  means  of  their  own 
success  so  run  over  their  original  boundaries  as 
to  have  become  the  subject  of  scientific  study. 
Here  and  there  a  man  has  the  leisure  and  the 
intellect,  and  in  the  absence  of  a  higher  ambi- 
tion he  devotes  his  life  to  elucidate  a  game. 
We  admire  his  ingenuity,  but  we  do  not  think 
very  much  of  his  career.  There  is  something 
better  to  be  done  in  the  life  of  all  of  us  than 
chess,  or  billiards,  or  whist.  In  regard  to  the 
two  former,  no  one  demands  that  others  shall 
play  well.  But  in  whist  it  seems  to  be  implied 
that  if  a  man  does  not  know  and  practise  all 
the  rules  which  have  ever  been  invented,  he 
ought  to  be  ashamed  of  himself !  This  is  car- 
ried so  far  iu  our  club  that  every  player  is  pre- 
sumed to  know  all  the  rules — and  to  depart 
from  them,  not  from  inexperience,  not  from 
ignorance,  not  from  temporary  aberration  of 
mind,  but  from  some  devilish  malignity  which 
has  induced  him  at  that  moment  to  do  evil  that 
others  might  be  tormented. 
At  our  club  the  main  rules  are  known.    They 


21 6  "Oabiet  muGaete 


are  so  frequently  discussed  that  it  is  impossible 
that  we  should  forget  them.  Clay  aud  Caveu- 
dish  are  in  our  hands  at  every  turn.  With  five 
trumps,  the  worst  amongst  us  would  lead  a 
trump.  When  we  are  weak  ourselves,  we  do 
not  force  our  partners.  We  know  how  to  Ji7iesse 
a  queen,  and  I  think  we  generally  count  the 
trumps, — at  any  rate,  early  in  the  afternoon. 
There  are  laws  the  keeping  of  which  does  not 
require  the  player  to  travel  much  beyond  the 
consideration  of  his  own  cards.  But  we  have 
not  arrived  at  the  reading  of  our  partner's  hands, 
and  hence  chiefly  come  those  angry  words  and 
fiery  looks,  which  do  upon  the  whole,  I  think, 
increase  rather  than  diminish  our  enjoyment. 
If  I  throw  away  a  card  from  a  weak  suit,  it  is 
certainly  a  grievous  thing  to  have  a  low  card 
in  that  very  suit  at  once  led  me,  and  to  know 
that  this  has  been  done  because  my  partner 
would  net  take  the  trouble  to  watch  the  card  as 
it  fell  from  my  hand.  The  stormiest  five  minutes 
that  I  ever  remember  came  from  such  a  cause 
as  this.  Our  Mr.  Polden — everybody  knows 
old  Dick  Polden  as  one  of  the  softest-hearted 


mbist  at  ©ur  Club  217 


human  beings  that  ever  became  the  prey  to 
begging  letter-writers  and  weeping  women — 
does  not  play  very  well  himself.  He  is  an  eager, 
excitable  man,  whose  mind  never  remains  fixed 
long  on  the  same  thing,  and  who,  I  may  say, 
almost  invariably  forgets  to  practise  the  care 
which  he  expects  others  to  exercise  in  his 
behalf.  I  do  not  think  that  he  is  really  chol- 
eric, but  he  has  an  unfortunate  tone  of  voice 
and  a  trick  of  eyebrow  which  make  a  bystander 
think  sometimes  that  he  will  very  soon  proceed 
to  blows.  Those  who  know  him  are  aware  that 
he  is  not  himself  conscious  at  these,  moments 
of  exceeding  the  mildest  forms  of  friendly  re- 
monstrance. He  was  playing  not  long  since  with 
Admiral  Green  as  his  partner.  The  Admiral  is 
a  very  constant  attendant  at  our  club,  and  per- 
haps the  best  player  that  we  have.  He  is  gen- 
erally a  quiet  man,  but  he  has  a  nasty  habit  of 
looking  round  and  smiling  when  his  partner 
makes  an  egregious  blunder,  which  some  of  us 
dislike  worse  even  than  being  objurgated.  On 
this  occasion,  Dick  Polden  had  two  strong  suits 
in  his  hand,    and  one  was  weak  ;  but  on  the 


2i8  WibiBt  nwQQcte 


whole  be  was  playing  what  he  considered  a 
great  game.  He  had  called  for  trumps,  and  had 
thrown  away  a  card  from  his  weak  suit.  We 
who  were  playing  against  him,  I  and  poor,  dear 
Grimley — Sir  Peter  Grimley,  who  has  since  been 
taken  away  from  us — knew  well  what  Polden 
was  about.  At  such  moments  he  wriggles  in  his 
chair,  raises  his  body  a  couple  of  inches  in  tri- 
umphant expectation,  and  tells  the  whole  tale 
of  his  heart  to  those  w^ho  watch  him. 

How  it  was  that  such  a  player  as  the  Admiral 
should  at  such  a  moment  have  led  from  the  dis- 
carded suit,  none  of  us  could  understand. 

Grimley  declared  that  it  was  intended  as  a 
rebuke  to  poor  Polden's  somewhat  noisy  antici- 
pation. I  never  could  believe  that,  as  the 
Admiral  is  fond  of  his  inone}^  which  on  this 
occasion  he  not  only  risked,  but  lost.  As  soon 
as  the  peccant  card  showed  itself  on  the  table, 

Polden  lost  all  control.     "Good  !"   he 

exclaimed,  raising  both  his  hands,  quite  indififer- 
ent  to  the  fact  that  he  was  thus  showing  all  his 
cards.  ** Polden,"  said  the  baronet,  "that  is 
not  whist."      "No,"  said  Polden,  very  hotly; 


1imbi6t  at  ®ur  Club  219 


"No;  certainly  it  is  not  whist.  Of  course  he 
saw  my  heart  ;  he  could  n't  but  see  it.  Every- 
body knows  that  he  sees  everything.  I  wonder, 
Grimley,  what  you  would  have  said  if  that  had 
happened  to  you  ?  ' ' 

"  I  should  have  sworn  horribly  ;  but  it  would 
have  been  inwardly,  so  that  no  one  would  have 
heard  me,"  said  Grimley. 

"  And  what  would  he  have  said  if  I  had  done 
it  to  him  ?  "  continued  Poldeu.  Perhaps  of  all 
forms  of  abuse,  that  of  addressing  yourself  to 
a  third  person,  and  of  calling  your  sinning 
partner  "  he  "  or  "  him,"  is  the  most  provoking. 
During  all  this  time  the  game  was  going  on,  and 
the  Admiral  had  only  smiled.  At  every  new 
contortion  of  Polden's  face  the  Admiral  smiled 
again  ;  and  as  Polden  became  all  contortions,  so 
did  the  Admiral  become  all  smiles.  At  last  the 
climax  was  reached.  A  queen  from  Polden's 
long  suit  of  spades  was  taken  by  the  king,  and 
then  his  ace  was  trumped.  All  this  misfortune, 
no  doubt,  had  come  from  the  Admiral's  blunder. 
Polden's  case  was  one  of  great  hardship,  but 
when  he  flung  down  his  cards,  declaring  that 


1imbi6t  IRua^ets 


he  could  n't  play  against  three  adversaries,  and 
when  his  cards  were  therefore  called,  and  when 
the  Admiral  quietly  showed  that  had  they  been 
kept  up  the  game  might  have  been  saved, — then 
it  was  evident,  even  to  Polden  himself,  that  he 
had  been  in  the  wrong.  And  he  was  a  man 
who  could  dare  anything  while  hot  passion  gave 
him  the  consciousness  of  right,  but  who  was 
cowed  at  once  when  a  feeling  that  he  was  in 
fault  had  crept  in  upon  him.  When  the  proof 
had  been  made  perfect  that  the  game  might 
have  been  saved,  he  passed  his  hand  over  his 
bald  head,  and  sank  back,  tamed,  upon  his 
chair. 

"  No  doubt,"  said  the  Admiral,  taking  the  two 
packs  of  cards  under  his  two  hands,  so  as  to 
prevent  the  immediate  continuation  of  the  play  ; 
"no  doubt. I  made  a  mistake  with  that  heart." 

"Let  us  say  no  more  about  it,"  said  Polden. 

"  A  few  words,  if  you  please.  We  will  wait 
half  a  minute,  if  you  do  not  object,  Sir  Peter." 
For  Grimley,  knowing  what  was  coming,  had 
made  an  attempt  to  get  at  one  of  the  packs,  so 
as  to   lessen,    b}'   action,    the   strength   of  the 


Wbist  at  <^ur  dlub 


Admiral's  coming  attack.  "  I  made  a  foolish 
mistake.  But  I  do  not  think  that  that  justified 
you  in  throwing  your  arms  about  like  a  de- 
mented windmill.  I  was  driven  by  your  words 
and  actions  and  looks  to  think  whether  in  kind- 
ness we  ought  not  to  speak  to  your  friends." 
Had  the  Admiral  spoken  in  an  angry  tone  there 
would  have  been  nothing  in  it.  We  are  so  used 
to  angry  tones,  and  have  become  so  conscious 
that  they  are  to  be  regarded  as  merely  an  organ 
accompaniment  to  our  generally  pleasant  music, 
that  had  the  Admiral  condescended  to  be  noisy, 
we  should  simply  have  been  anxious  to  get  hold 
of  the  cards  and  begin  again.  But  his  tranquil- 
lity afflicted  us  all,  and  absolutely  quelled  poor 
old  Polden. 

"You  're  making  too  much  of  it,"  said  the 
Baronet. 

**Not  at  all,"  said  the  Admiral.  "I  shall 
expect  Mr.  Polden  to  apologize." 

Apologize  !  that  was  more  than  any  of  us 
could  stand.  A  crowd  of  men  from  the  other 
tables  had  now  congregated  round  us.  Among 
us  all  Dick  Polden  was,  perhaps,  the  most  gen- 


222  Tiabist  TRugsets 

erally  popular.  Who  but  he  would  give  up  his 
right  to  a  place  to  another  player  ?  Who  but 
he  would  remain  beyond  his  time  to  make  up 
a  rubber  for  others  ?  Who  but  he  would  take 
the  chair  close  to  the  fire  if  it  were  hot,  or  expose 
his  shoulder  to  the  window  if  it  were  cold  ? 
When  did  Polden  willingly  tread  on  any  man's 
com,  or  fail  to  soothe  any  man's  vanity  ?  When 
little  subscriptions  have  had  to  be  raised,  who 
has  ever  known  Polden  to  refuse  his  guinea  ?  It 
was  out  of  the  question  that  he  should  be 
reduced  to  the  ignominy  of  an  apologA*.  And, 
moreover,  the  very  fact  of  an  apology  having 
been  demanded  and  given  would  be  e\'idence  of 
a  quarrel,  and  it  had  always  been  a  point  with 
us  to  declare  that,  though  we  were  loud,  we 
never  quarrelled.  We  should  have  been  ashamed 
of  our  excitability  as  respectable  old  gentlemen 
had  we  not  always  been  able  to  assert  that  each 
loud  enunciation  had  been  simply  an  amusing 
incident  of  our  game.  When  the  Admiral  spoke 
of  an  apology,  we  all  felt  that  he  was  ignorant 
of  th^  very  nature  of  the  bond  which  united  us. 
If  we  could  not  bear  each  other's  wavs  without 


•QDlbist  at  ©ur  Club  223 

apologies,  the  whist  must  be  given  up.  And 
from  dear  old  Polden  too,  who  at  this  moment 
was  almost  in  tears  ! 

"  I  don't  think  that  can  be  necessary,"  said 
Dr.  Absolom.  Dr.  Absolom  had  once  been  one 
of  the  royal  doctors,  and  is  a  man  of  authorit}-. 
By  dint  of  a  commanding  brow  and  a  loud, 
steady  voice  he  has  acquired  a  sort  of  influence 
over  us.  His  whist  is  not  good,  but  no  one 
ventures  to  scold  him  much.  "  Perhaps,  doc- 
tor, if  you  had  played  so  and  so,"  is  the  extent 
to  which  we  go  with  him.  "  If  I  had,  the 
event  might  perhaps  have  been  different,"  he 
will  reply  with  dignity.  The  altercation  with 
Dr.  Absolom  is  never  carried  beyond  that. 

"  Perhaps,  Dr.  Absolom,  you  did  not  hear  the 
remarks  which  were  made,"  said  the  angry 
Admiral. 

If  I  love  any  one,  I  love  Polden. 

"  I  heard  them,"  said  I,  "  and  they  were  very 
fierce.  But  I  should  have  thought  that  we  all 
understood  Polden's  ferocity  by  this  time." 

"  Was  I  fierce  ?  "  asked  Polden  piteously. 

"  I  should  think  you  were,"  said  the  Baronet, 


224  Timbist  IRuggets 


"  and  so  should  I  have  been.  But  as  for  apolo- 
gies, bless  my  soul !  if  we  come  to  that  we  had 
better  give  it  all  up."  Then  there  was  a  general 
acclamation  that  nothing  more  was  to  be  said 
about  it,  during  which  the  Admiral  subsided. 
For  the  next  day  or  two  he  was  rather  stiff  in 
his  manner  to  Mr.  Polden,  but  before  the  end 
of  the  week  everything  was  right  again. 

That,  I  think,  was  the  nearest  approach  to  a 
quarrel  that  we  ever  had,  and  a  rumor  of  it  I 
fear,  got  through  the  club.  But  in  answer  to 
all  questions  we  have  all  of  us  been  firm  in  our 
assertions  that  there  was  no  quarrel. 

That  system  of  "calling"  is,  of  all  self-im- 
posed torments,  the  most  tormenting.  Readers, 
no  doubt,  will  understand  what  "calling" 
means.  When  you  wish  your  partner  to  lead 
you  a  trump,  you  play  your  cards  from  some 
other  suit  out  of  their  proper  course — throwing 
down,  say,  the  ten  on  the  first  round,  and  the 
deuce  on  the  second.  Players,  I  think,  are 
generally  of  opinion  that  it  injures  the  game — 
and  no  doubt  it  does  more  harm  than  good  if  the 
partner  who  is  called  to  does  not  see  the  call. 


IClbist  at  ®ur  Clul)  225 

But  it  has  this  advantage,  that  it  gives  an  indif- 
ferent player  a  great  facility  for  playing  a  game 
of  his  own,  and  for  scolding  his  partner  for  not 
assisting  him.  It  creates  an  equality.  For 
though  it  may  be  difficult  to  observe  a  call, 
nothing  can  be  easier  than  calling  itself,  "You 
did  n't  see  my  call,"  says  the  injured  one  after- 
wards—  or  very  frequently  not  waiting  till 
afterwards. 

"Did  you  call?" 

''Well,  rather.  It  would  have  made  two 
tricks'  difference — that 's  all." 

Then  the  offending  one,  knowing  that  this 
must  be  an  exaggeration,  goes  to  work — not  to 
defend  himself,  but  to  prove  that  at  the  outside 
one  trick  only  would  have  been  saved,  had  he 
been  attentive. 

It  seems  to  me  that  at  our  club  one's  partner 
never  sees  a  call,  but  that  it  is  very  often  seen 
by  the  adversaries.  Therefore,  at  our  club,  if 
you  are  particularly  anxious  that  trumps  should 
not  be  led,  so  that  you  may  ruff  this  suit  or  the 
other,  then  is  the  time  to  call. 

You  have  two  adversaries,  but  only  one  part- 
es 


225  Mbist  IFlugQets 

ner.  If  you  know  your  man,  you  may  perhaps 
be  almost  sure  that  he  will  be  blind  ; — and  in 
this  way  you  stop  your  enemy  from  playing  his 
game,  and  get  him  to  play  yours. 

"You  have  no  right  to  look  like  that  when 
3-0U  call,"  Sir  Nicholas  said  the  other  day  to 
Dr.  Pintale. 

"  I  may  look  as  I  please,"  said  the  Doctor. 

"  Certainly  not.  When  you  put  down  your 
second  card  in  that  way,  and  then  look  up  at 
your  partner,  you  might  just  as  well  say  out 
loud  what  you  want.     I  appeal  to  the  table." 

Dr.  Absolom  and  Mr.  Poser  were  playing. 
Mr.  PDser  is  a  young  man  under  fifty,  who  has 
come  in  among  us  I  hardly  know  why,  and  who 
writes  poetrj-,  which  I  hope  is  better  than  his 
whist.  He  is  an  amusing  man,  and  we  rather 
like  having  a  poet. 

"My  friend,  Dr.  Pintale,  is  perhaps  a  little 
demonstrative,"  said  Dr.  Absolom. 

'*  Lesbia  hath  a  calling  eye,"  sang  Mr.  Poser; 
"  and  some  of  us  know  for  what  he  calleth." 

Then  it  w-as  presumed  that  the  evidence  had 
been  adverse  to  Dr.  Pintale ;  and  he  was  con- 


Timbist  at  ©ur  Club  227 

strained  to  promise  that  he  would  henceforth 
keep  his  features  in  better  order. 

Mr.  Thompson's  objection  to  the  practice — a 
practice  which  he  never  could  bring  himself  in 
the  least  to  understand— was,  I  think,  both  true 
and  picturesque.  Mr,  Thompson  is  a  clergyman 
who,  in  former  days,  did  the  light  work  of  a 
city  parish,  whose  church  has  been  pulled  down, 
and  who  therefore,  feeling  that  his  own  clerical 
position  has  been,  as  it  were,  stolen  from  him, 
disports  himself,  very  quietly,  like  a  layman. 
It  is  he  who  is  so  greedy  of  making  tricks,  and 
is  so  unwilling  to  take  the  money  that  he  wins. 
He  is  an  old  man,  of  a  sweet  temperament,  and 
much  tinged  with  romance.  "Why  graft 
another  thorn  upon  the  rose  ?  "  said  he — "  and 
a  sharper  thorn  than  those  with  which  nature 
has  surrounded  her  ?  " 

But  in  very  truth  it  is  the  presence  of  the 
thorns  which  constitutes  the  delight  of  our 
whist.  I  used  to  think,  when  I  would  walk 
home  from  our  club  after  a  bout  of  scolding 
which  had  lasted  the  whole  afternoon,  that  there 
was  something  in  our  eager  words  derogatory 


228  TKIlbist  muGgets 

to  the  dignity  of  old  age,  and  I  have  asked 
myself  more  than  once  whether  it  would 
not  become  me  to  abandon  a  pursuit  which 
evidently  could  not  be  followed  without  hard 
words. 

For  I  was  soon  convinced  that  whist  without 
scolding  was  altogether  out  of  the  question. 
But  after  a  little  I  began  to  think  that  the  exer- 
citatiou  was  in  itself  healthy.  As  a  lot  of  boys 
on  a  playground  together  can  hardly  make  too 
much  noise  as  long  as  they  do  not  fight,  so  in 
regard  to  old  men,  if  they  do  not  quarrel,  why 
should  they  be  restrained  from  that  manifesta- 
tion of  interest  which  eager  loud  words  evince  ? 
To  sit  and  play  whist  dumb,  or  with  casual 
word  about  the  fire,  or  the  table,  or  the  state  of 
the  atmosphere,  would  be  so  dull  that  men  could 
only  be  kept  at  it  by  some  desire  of  making 
money.  Of  that  stain  there  is,  I  think,  nothing 
at  our  club.  And  therefore,  when  I  found  how 
strong  was  the  determination  to  silence  the  Ad- 
miral when  he  talked  about  an  apology — how 
resolute  we  all  were  that  there  should  be  no 


mblat  at  ©ur  GIuD 


22Q 


acknowledgment  of  the  evidence  of  a  quarrel — 
I  reconciled  myself  to  the  noise,  and  took 
comfort  in  assuring  myself  that  whist,  as  played 
at  our  club,  is  a  wise  resource  for  old  gentlemen. 
Blackzvood's  Magazine. 


A  HAND  AT  CARDS.* 

CAVKNDISH  in  his  Card  Essays  gives  us 
the  stor>'  of  "The  Duffer  Maxims,"  and 
some  anecdotical  matter  of  an  amusing  nature 
about  the  talkers.  By  way  of  appendix  to  sober 
instruction,  we  have  thought  to  introduce  the 
conversation  verbatim  during  a  single  hand  of 
four  persons  seated  for  the  purpose  of  "playing 
whist,"  as  each  of  them  called  the  performance, 
— literally,  however,  a  rollicking  exhibition 
that  should  be  named 

PivAYiNG  AT  Playing  Whist. 


The   play   is   bj-   the   five-point   game.     The 
score  is  o.     C.  deals  and  turns  the  9  of  hearts. 

*  By  permission  of  the  author  and  of  Messrs.  Hough- 
ton, Mifflin,  &  Co. 

230 


B  IbanD  at  CarDs  231 

"  There,"  says  C,  "  That 's  the  way  you  treat 
me.  I  never  get  an  honor  in  the  world,  but 
when  /  cut,  somehow,  I  always  cut  for  some- 
body else." 

B.  takes  up  his  hand,  sorts  it.  It  is  composed 
of  ace  and  2  of  spades,  kn.,  6,  and  3  of  hearts, 
qu.,  kn.,  9,  and  7  of  diamonds,  and  7,  6,  5,  and 
4  of  clubs,  and  he  begins  the  usual  growl :  "I 
should  like  to  know  how  anybody  is  going  to 
get  anything  out  of  this.  I  never  can  get  a 
hand."  [That  is  to  say,  he  does  not  hold  ace, 
k.,  and  qu.  of  three  plain  suits,  and  the  four 
honors  in  trumps.  Give  him  these  cards  every 
time  and  he  would  be  pleased  to  play  whist] 
"I  suppose  I  must  play  something.  There's 
a  diamond  ;  that 's  according  to  rule,  anyhow," 
and  throws  the  7. 

"You  don't  strike  me  very  heavily,"  says  D., 
"but  I  can  follow  suit,"  and  throws  the  6.  He 
holds  the  k.,  10,  8,  7,  6  of  spades,  the  kn.  and 
7  of  hearts,  the  ace,  k.,  qu.,  and  2  of  clubs,  and 
the  k.  and  6  of  diamonds. 

"  I  can  take  that,"  says  A.,  throwing  the  ace, 
"that  is,  unless  it 's  trumped."     He  holds  the 


232  Mbist  IRuggcts 

5,  4,  and  3  of  spades,  the  ace,  qu.,  10,  4  and  2 
of  hearts,  the  ace,  10,  8,  3,  and  2  of  diamonds, 
and  no  club.    '  'Are  you  going  to  trump  that,  C.  ?  " 

"No,"  says  C,  "I  can't  trump  anything, 
nor  take  anything  either,  I  guess,"  and  plays 
the  4,  He  holds  the  qu.,  kn.,  and  9  of  spades, 
the  9,  8,  and  5  of  hearts,  the  kn.,  10,  9,  8,  and  3 
of  clubs,  and  the  5  and  4  of  diamonds. 

*'  Now,"  says  A.,  ''  let 's  try  a  little  trump," 
and  throws  the  4  of  hearts. 

"  Coming  at  us  early,  are  you  ?  "  says  C,  and 
he  plays  the  5. 

"I  '11  try  to  get  that,"  says  B.,  and  throws 
the  kn. 

"No  you  don't,"  says  D.,  and  bangs  the  k. 
upon  the  trick. 

"  Well,  I  did  n't  expect  it,"  says  B.,  "It  was 
the  best  that  I  had.  If  we  get  out  of  this  with- 
out losing  the  whole  thing  /shall  be  glad." 

"Now,"  says  D.,  "there's  a  club  for  you," 
throwing  the  k. 

A.  determines,  "I'll  let  that  travel,"  and 
throws  the  3  of  spades  ;  C.  3  of  clubs,  B.  4.  "I 
did  n't  know  but  you  might  have  the  ace,"  said 


B  IbanO  at  CarDs  233 

A.  to  B.  "He  might  have  led  from  king  and 
queen." 

"Yes,  that's  so,"  said  B.;  "of  course  you 
could  n't  tell."  [N.  B.  Trumping  the  trick 
would  have  made  no  difference  in  result.] 

"  Well,  I  '11  have  one  of  your  trumps,  any- 
way," says  D.,  and  throws  the  queen  of  clubs. 
A.  trumps  unwillingly  with  the  2  of  hearts  ;  C. 
plays  the  8  of  clubs,  and  B.  the  5. 

"Now,  we'll  see  about  this,"  says  A.,  and 
plays  the  10  of  hearts.  He  remembers  that  the 
k.  and  kn.  have  fallen,  and  thinks  he  knows 
whist  pretty  well  to  lead  the  10  now  instead  of 
the  ace.  C.  plays  8,  B.  3,  and  D.  7.  "You 
have  another,"  says  A.  to  C,  for  he  remembered 
the  9  was  turned — another  positive  proof  to 
himself  of  great  proficiency  in  whist.  A.  qu., 
C.  9,  B.  6,  D.  6  of  spades. 

"  Now  I  '11  give  my  partner  his  suit."  Proof 
number  three  of  skill  and  information  about 
the  game  ;  and  he  throws  the  3  of  diamonds,  C. 
5,  B.  kn.,  D.  k. 

"  I  '11  have  that  trump  anyhow,"  says  D.,  and 
plays  the  ace  of  clubs,  displaying  his  embracing 


234  limbist  IKluaacte 

knowledge  of  whist,  that  will  not  only  not  let 
a  trump  remain  in  the  opponent's  hand,  but 
dares  to  sacrifice  a  high  card  to  bring  it  out. 
D,  ace  of  clubs,  A.  ace  of  hearts,  C.  6  of  clubs, 

B.  5  of  clubs.     Then  A.  plays  2  of  diamonds, 

C.  9  of  clubs,  B.  qu.  of  diamonds,  D.  2  of  clubs  ■ 
B.  9  of  diamonds,  D.  7  of  spades,  A.  10  of  dia- 
monds, C.  10  of  clubs  ;  A.  8  of  diamonds,  C.  8 
of  spades,  B.  7  of  clubs,  D.  9  of  spades.  Three 
rounds  in  silence.     No  help  for  it. 

"Now,"  says  D.,  "we  '11  have  something 
else."  A.  leads  the  5  of  spades,  C.  plays  qu., 
B.  ace,  and  D.  10. 

"  Any  more  aces  ?  "  says  D. 

"  No,  only  a  little  spade  that  I  suppose  you 
will  get,"  says  B.,  and  plays  the  2,  taken  by 
D.'s  king. 

"  All  right,  we  're  three  by  card,"  says  B.  "I 
should  never  have  guessed  it  by  the  looks  of 
my  hand." 

"You  must  remember  I  helped  3-ou  a  little," 
says  A. 

"  We  stopped  you  from  going  out,  that  's  all 
that  I  thought  we  could  do,"  says  C. 


B  IbanD  at  CarDs  235 


"Well,  we  got  all  that  there  was;  there 
did  n't  any  of  them  get  away,"  says  A. 

"Come  on,  it's  my  deal,"  says  B.,  "cut  the 
cards. ' ' 

"Yes,  and  I  suppose  cut  you  an  honor," 
says  C. 

And  so  the  game  goes  charmingly  on. 

This  and  like  to  this,  is  the  talk  or  the  thought 
of  hundreds  of  card-handlers.  These  players 
had  no  idea  of  what  the  cards  they  held  were 
capable,  and  thought  they  were  really  playing 
them  in  accordance  with  their  value. 

Let  us  place  the  same  cards  in  the  hands  of 
good  American  whist-players,  who  read  them  as 
they  fall,  drawing  the  inferences  they  offer,  but 
under  the  law  of  their  game  speaking  not  a 
word,  and  I  see  how  A.  and  B.,  from  the  same 
beginning,  compel  the  entire  game  before  the 
adversaries  secure  a  trick. 

B.  throws  the  7  of  diamonds,  the  correct  lead, 
from  his  hand  ;  D.  plays  the  6.  A.  instantly 
reasons  this  wise:  "My  partner  must  have 
three  higher  cards.    He  cannot  have  k.  andqu., 


236  mbist  1PlU9ClCtS 


or  he  would  have  led  the  k.;  he  caunot  havek. 
and  kn.,  or  he  would  have  lead  the  9  ;  he  holds 
the  qu.,  kn.,  and  9.  The  6  is  played  on  my 
right.  D.  is  probably  not  calling,  for  I  have 
five  trumps.  Either  the  k.  is  there  alone,  or  D. 
has  no  more.  If  he  has  no  more,  k.  with 
another  held  by  C.  will  take  at  any  rate.  I 
must  pass  the  trick  to  catch  the  card  upon 
my  right." 

All  this  that  takes  so  long  to  write  and  to 
read  flashes  instantaneously  through  the  mind 
of  a  good  player. 

A  throws  the  3  of  diamonds,  for  not  only 
must  he  not  play  the  ace,  but  he  must  not 
take  the  trick  because  he  must  not  have  the 
lead  ;  C.  throws  the  4.  B.  at  once  takes  in  the 
situation  and  leads  the  highest  of  his  trumps. 
D.  can  gain  nothing  by  refusing  to  throw  k. 
If  A.  has  ace,  and  k.  is  not  pla\-ed,  it  will  not 
cover  kn.;  and  if  C.  has  neither  ace  nor  qu. 
(for  B.  can  have  neither  of  these),  C.  is  to  be 
helped  by  D.'s  play,  calling,  in  trumps,  two 
honors  for  one.  If  A.  holds  both  ace  and  qu., 
of  course  D.'s  play  is  fruitless.  B.  kn.  of  hearts, 


B  IbanD  at  CauOg  237 

D.  k.,  A.  ace,  C.  5.  A.  draws  the  other  trumps 
with  qu.  aud  10,  plays  the  ace  of  diamonds  on 
which  the  k.  must  fall,  and  continues  the  dia- 
monds,— B.  having  thrown  the  kn.  on  ace  that 
he  may  be  out  of  A.'s  way,  for  from  C.'s  play 
of  the  4  and  5  the  rest  of  the  diamonds  are 
marked  with  A.  B,  having  taken  the  small 
diamond  next  led  with  the  qu. ,  throws  the  ace 
of  spades,  as  he  sees  that  with  A.'s  diamonds 
and  trumps  the  game  is  won.  B.  leads  the  9  of 
diamonds,  A.  takes  with  the  10,  plays  the  8, 
and  then  the  trumps ;  claiming  five  points 
and  game. 

As  we  close  this  text-book  devoted  to  the 
students  of  the  wondrous  game,  we  kindly 
recommend  those  who  are  careless  about  the  pro- 
prieties, to  contrast  the  manner  of  this  play  of 
the  same  cards,  to  consider  the  folly  of  making 
remarks  while  the  game  is  in  progress,  and  to 
derive  such  satisfaction  as  they  may  from  the 
illustration,  that  defines  the  difference  between 
PiyAYlNG  WHIST  and  playing  at  playing  whist. 
American  Whist  Illustrated  by  G.  W.P 


A  WHIST  PARTY  * 

MR.  GAL  ANT  [luho  is  an  authority  at  his 
duty — Are  you  fond  of  whist,  Mrs. 
Bland  ? 

Mrs.  Bland  {his  hostess  and  partner). — Ob, 
immensely  !  I  fear,  though,  I  am  a  little  out 
of  practice. 

Mr.  GaIvANT  {cuho  has  his  misgivings  about 
ladies'  whist). — Perhaps  you  would  prefer  a 
game  of  euchre  ? 

Mrs.  Bland. — Oh,  no,  indeed  !  I  know  how 
devoted  you  are  to  whist.  Mr.  Bland  often 
speaks  of  your  prowess. 

Miss  Fichu  [one  antagonist). — Oh,  we  must 
play  whist.  I  shall  be  too  proud  if  we  win  ;  and 
if  we  lose,  it  is  only  what  we  ought  to  expect. 

*By  permission  of  Messrs.  Chas.  Scribner's  Sons. 
238 


B  TMbiet  paitg  239 

Young  Darby  {another  antagonist). — Why, 
you  know,  Mr.  Galant,  it  is  really  awfully 
plucky  our  standing  up  against  you  at  all ! 

Mr.  Gai^ant  {who  does  n't  see  much  sport 
ahead  for  himself).— Wq\\,  then,  we  '11  get  to 
work.     Will  you  ladies  cut  for  the  deal  ? 

Mrs.  BI.AND  {cutting  an  ace). — Oh,  dear,  low 
deals,  and  I  've  the  very  highest  card  in  the 
pack  ! 

Mr.  GaIvANT. — The  deal  is  yours  ;  ace  is  low 
in  the  deal  cut 

Mrs.  Bi,and. — Oh,  yes,  I  remember  now. 
How  stupid  of  me  ! 

Mr.  GaIvANT  {involuntarily).— T>on't  men- 
tion it  ! 

Mrs.  BiyAND  {looking  at  her  cards). — Fancy 
my  dealing  such  a  hand  to  myself !  Mr.  Galant, 
I  hope  I  've  treated 'you  better. 

Mr.  Galant  {dryly).— Thanks. 

Miss  Fichu.— Have  I  got  to  lead  ?  I  do  so 
hate  to  do  that. 

Young  Darby  {encouragingly). — If  you  '11 
lead  any  one  of  three  suits  I  '11  agree  to  take 
it. 


240  Wbist  IFluggets 


Mrs.  Bland. — But  beware  how  you  lead  the 
fourth,  for  that  I  shall  win. 

Mr.  GAI.ANT  {muses  to  himself). — Three 
aces  on  my  left  and  one  in  my  partner's  hand. 
This  is  whist. 

Mrs.  BIvAND  {later  in  the  same  hand). — Well, 
there  's  the  queen,  too.  I  like  to  use  up  a  suit 
while  its  fresh. 

Miss  Fichu.— So  do  I  ;  it  's  so  easy  to  re- 
member about  it  then. 

Young  Darby  {trumping  the  trick). — Your 
queen  is  doomed,  though,  Mrs.  Bland. 

Mrs.  BI.AND.— Oh,  Mr.  Darby,  that  is  n't 
polite  at  all.  Now,  that  I  think  of  it,  you  played 
the  knave  on  my  king,  did  n't  you  ? 

Mr.  Galant  {faintly). — Yes,  ma'am. 

Mrs.  Bland.— Oh,  how  stupid  of  me  !  I 
might  have  known. 

Mr.  Galant  {at  the  end  of  the  hand).— Yon 
had  good  trump  cards,  Mrs.  Bland.  I  presume 
you  did  not  notice  my  trump  signal  ? 

Mrs.  Bland.— Oh,  I  had  forgotten  all  about 
that.     I  must  watch  next  time  ! 


B  mbist  IParts  241 

Miss  Fichu.— Oh,  is  it  my  lead  again?  Let 
me  see — "  When  in  doubt  lead  trumps." 

Young  Darby  {approvingly). — A  very  good 
play,  Miss  Fichu. 

Mrs.  Expand.— But  the  trick  is  ours  with  my 
ace.  Now,  {fingering  a  card^)  you  led  me 
something,  Mr.  Galaut.  What  in  the  world 
was  it  ? 

Mr.  GaIvANT  {whose  viisgivings  have  become 
certainties). — I  can  hardly  tell  you  that,  you 
know. 

Mrs.  Expand. — Of  course  not.  How  unfor- 
tunate that  I  do  not  recall  it,  though  ;  it  was  a 
heart  or  a  diamond. 

Miss  Fichu  {facetiously).— h^^^  both. 

Mrs.  B1.AND. — I  wish  I  might.  I  '11  follow 
your  example,  and  solve  my  doubt  in  trumps. 

Young  Darby. — How  charming  of  you,  Mrs. 
Bland ;  I  was  so  hoping  you  might. 

Mrs.  Ei,and.— Oh,  Mr.  Darby,  did  you  want 
it? 

Mr.  Darby. — Above  all  things.  Did  n't  you 
hear  me  applaud  Miss  Fichu's  trump  lead  ? 


242  TlClbist  IBuggete 

Mrs.  BIvAND. — Of  course  you  did.  How  very 
stupid  ! 

Mr.  Darby  [complacently  leading  his  cards 
with  a  jerk). — I  believe  the  trumps  are  all  out, 
and  all  my  spades  are  good.  Can  you  take  this 
— or  this — or  this — oh,  I  miscounted.  Mr. 
Gal  ant  has  the  last  spade. 

Mrs.  BI.AND  {eagerly). — Oh,  what  does  that 
do? 

Mr.  GaIvAnt  {dryly). — It  gives  them  four 
instead  of  five. 

Mrs.  Bland  {quite  relieved). — Oh,  you  have 
saved  the  day,  Mr.  Galant ! 

Miss  Fichu. — And  we  have  won  the  game, 
with  two  to  spare. 

Mrs.  Bland. — Oh,  is  that  really  so  ? 


Miss  Fichu  {on  Young  Darby's  arm  later, 
promenading  the  rooms). — We  have  been  play- 
ing whist  with  Mr.  Galant.  Do  ask  us  who 
won  four  games  out  of  five  ;  we  're  too  modest 
to  proffer  the  information. 


B  mhiet  ipart^ 


243 


Miss  Parachute  {^o  waiting  friends).— Oh, 
dear,  I  felt  sure  Mr.  Galant  could  make  a  fourth 
hand  at  our  game  of  whist,  aud  I  just  begged 
him  to  do  so;  but  he  says  he  does  n't  know 
one  card  from  another  ! 

Phiwp  H.  Wki^CH. 


AT  BOVOR.-PLAY  A  GREAT 
GAME  OF  WHIST. ^ 

EVENING  after  dinner.  On  the  moat  in  a 
punt  with  Bnglefield.  Dark  night :  cold  : 
damp  :  romantic  but  for  this.  Englefield  says, 
abruptly,  "Capital  point."  I  ask  here,  what? 
He  replies,  "  Two  fellows,  one  the  Villain,  the 
other  Injured  Innocence,  in  punt  :  real  water 
easih-  done  "on  the  stage.  Villain  suddenly 
knocks  Injured  Innocence  into  the  water  :  he 
sinks  :  is  caught  in  the  weeds  below  :  never 
rises  again.  Or,  on  second  thought,  is  n't 
drowned,  but  turns  up  somehow  in  the  last 
Act."  I  own  it  a  good  idea,  and  propose  going 
in-doors,  as  I  see  Mrs.  Childers  making  tea. 

*  By  permission  of  the  author  and  of  Messrs.  Bradburj\ 
Agnew,  &  Co.,  London,  and  of  Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers, 
Boston. 

244 


Bt  JBovor  245 


In-doors. — Stenton,  the  philosopher,  says, 
"Tea  is  an  incentive.  So  much  tea  is  found 
in  every  man's  brain."  Poss  says  it  ought  to 
be  a  caution  to  anybody  not  to  use  hot  v^'ater 
to  his  face,  or  he  might  turn  his  head  into  a 
tea-pot.  I  'm  sorry  Poss  turns  this  interesting 
theme  into  ridicule,  as  I  like  hearing  Stenton's 
conversation.  He  has  a  deep  bass  voice  which 
is  very  impressive.  There  is  a  pause.  Con- 
sidering that  we  are  all  more  or  less  clever 
here,  it  is  wonderful  how  dull  we  are.  I  sup- 
pose that  the  truth  is  we  avoid  merely  friv- 
olous and  commonplace  topics.  Englefield, 
who  is  a  nuisance  sometimes,  suddenly  looks 
at  me,  and  asks  me  "  to  say  something  funny." 
I  'm  glad  they  know  nothing  of  the  Pig- 
squeaking  song. 

I  smile  on  him  pityingly.  Childers  says, 
"  Come,  you  're  last  from  town,  have  n't  you 
got  any  good  stories  ?  "  This  poses  me  :  I  know 
fellows  who  could  recollect  a  hundred.  I  know 
fellows,  merely  superficial,  shallow  men,  who 
are  never  silent,  who  have  a  story  or  a  joke  for 
everything.     I  consider,  "Let  me  see  "  :  I  try 


246  TKHbist  muQgets 


to  think  of  oue.  The  beginnings  of  twent}- 
stories  occur  to  me  mistily.  Also  the  com- 
mencement of  riddles  as  far  as  "  Why  is  a — ," 
or  "  When  is  a — ,"  I  've  got  some  noted  down 
in  my  pocket-book,  if  I  could  only  get  out  of 
the  room  and  refer  to  it  quietly  in  the  passage. 
I  can't  take  it  out  before  ever3'body  ;  that  's 
the  worst  of  an  artificial  memory. 

Happy  Thought. — To  read  two  pages  of  Mac- 
millan's  Jest  Book  every  morning  while  dress- 
ing, committing  at  least  one  storj'  to  memorj'. 

Childers  proposes  "Whist."  I  never  feel 
certain  of  myself  at  whist  :  I  point  to  the  fact 
that  there  are  four  without  me.  Poss  Felmyr 
says  if  I  '11  sit  down  he  '11  cut  in  presently.  "  I 
play?"  I  reply,  "Yes,  a  little."  I  am  Sten- 
ton's  partner :  Englefield  and  Childers  are 
against  us.  Sixpenny  points,  shilling  on  the 
rub.  Stenton  says  to  me,  "You  '11  score." 
Scoring  always  puzzles  me.  I  know  it 's  done 
with  half  a  crown,  a  shilling,  a  sixpence,  and  a 
silver  candlestick.  Sometimes  one  bit  of  money 
is  under  the  candlestick,  sometimes  two. 


Bt  JBovov  247 


Happy  Thought. — To  watch  Englelield  scor- 
ing :  soon  pick  it  up  again. 

First  Rubber.  —  Stenton  deals  :  Childers  is 
first  hand,  I  'm  second.  Heart  trumps  :  the 
Queen.  It  's  wonderful  how  quick  they  are  in 
arranging  their  cards.  After  I  've  sorted  all 
mine  carefully,  I  find  a  trump  among  the  clubs. 
Having  placed  him  in  his  position  on  the  right 
of  my  hand,  I  find  a  stupid  Three  of  Clubs 
among  the  spades  :  settled  kirn.  Lastly,  a  King 
of  Diamonds  upside  down,  which  seems  to 
entirely  disconcert  me  ;  put  him  right.  Engle- 
field  says,  "Come,  be  quick"  :  Stenton  tells 
me  "not  to  hurry  myself."  I  say  I  'm  quite 
ready,  and  wonder  to  myself  what  Childers 
will  lead. 

Childers  leads  the  Queen  of  Clubs.  I  con- 
sider for  a  moment  what  is  the  duty  of  second 
hand  ;  the  word  "  finessing  "  occurs  to  me  here. 
I  can't  recollect  if  putting  on  a  three  of  the 
same  suit  is  finessing  :  put  on  the  three,  and 
look  at  my  partner  to  see  how  he  likes  it.  He 
is  watching  the  table.  Knglefield  lets  it  go,  my 
partner  lets  it  go  ;  the  trick  is  Childers'.     I  feel 


248  laabtst  muaact6 


that  somehow  it  's  lost  through  my  fault.  His 
lead  again  :  spades.  This  takes  me  so  by  sur- 
prise that  I  have  to  rearrange  my  hand,  as  the 
spades  have  got  into  a  lump.  I  have  two  spades, 
an  ace  and  a  five.  Let  me  see,  "  If  I  play  the 
five  I  — "  I  can't  see  the  consequence.  "  If  I 
play  the  ace  it  must  win  unless  it  's  trumped." 
Stenton  sa^-s  in  a  deep  voice,  "Play  away." 
The  three  look  from  one  to  the  other.  Being 
flustered,  I  play  the  ace  :  the  trick  is  mine.  I 
wish  it  was  n't  as  I  have  to  lead.  I  'd  give 
something  if  I  might  consult  Poss,  who  is 
behind  me,  or  my  partner.  All  the  cards  look 
ready  for  playing,  j-et  I  don't  like  to  disturb 
them.  Let  me  think  what  's  been  played 
already.  Stenton  asks  me,  "If  I  'd  like  to 
look  at  the  last  trick?  "  As  this  will  give  '}ne 
time,  and  them  the  idea  that  I  am  following  out 
my  own  peculiar  tactics,  I  embrace  the  offer. 
Childers  displays  the  last  trick.  I  look  at  it.  I 
say,  "Thank  you,"  and  he  shuts  it  up  again. 
Immediately  afterwards  I  can't  recollect  what 
the  cards  were  in  that  trick  :  if  I  did  it  would  n't 
help  me.      They  are  becoming  impatient. 


Bt  3B0V0C  249 


About  this  time  somebody's  Queen  of  Dia- 
monds is  taken.  I  was  n't  watching  how  the 
trick  went,  but  I  am  almost  certain  it  was  fatal 
to  the  Queen  of  Diamonds  ;  that  is  to  say,  if  it 
ivas  the  Queen  of  Diamonds  ;  but  I  don't  like 
to  ask.  The  next  trick,  which  is  something  in 
spades,  trumped  by  Knglefield,  I  pass  as  of  not 
much  importance.  Stenton  growls,  "  Did  n't  I 
see  that  he  'd  got  no  more  spades  in  his  hand." 
No,  I  own  I  did  n't.  Stenton,  who  is  not  an 
encouraging  partner,  grunts  to  himself.  In  a 
subsequent  round,  I  having  lost  a  trick  by  lead- 
ing spades,  Stenton  calls  out,  "  Why,  did  n't 
you  see  they  were  trumping  spades?"  I  de- 
fend myself ;  I  say  I  did  see  him,  Englefield, 
trump  one  spade,  but  I  thought  that  he  had  n't 
any  more  trumps.  I  say  this  as  if  I  'd  been 
reckoning  the  cards  as  they  've  been  played. 

Happy  Thought. — Try  to  reckon  them,  and 
play  by  system  next  rubber. 

I  keep  my  trumps  back  till  the  last ;  they  '11 
come  out  and  astonish  them.  They  do  come 
out  and  astonish  me.      Being  taken  by  surprise 


250  liClbist  IRuggets 

I  put  on  my  king  when  I  ought  to  have  played 
the  knave,  and  both  surrender  to  the  ace  and 
queen.  I  say,  "  Dear  me,  how  odd  !  "  I  think 
I  hear  Stenton  saying  sarcastically  in  an  under- 
tone, "O  yes;  confoundedly  odd."  I  try  to 
explain,  and  he  interrupts  me  at  the  end  of  the 
last  deal  but  two  by  saying  testily,  **It's  no 
use  talking,  if  you  attend,  we  may  just  save  the 
odd." 

Happy  Thought. — Save  the  odd. 

My  friend,  the  Queen  of  Diamonds,  who,  I 
thought,  had  been  played,  and  taken  by  some 
one  or  other  at  a  very  early  period  of  the  game, 
suddenly  reappears  out  of  my  partner's  hand, 
as  if  she  were  part  of  a  conjuring  trick.  Second 
hand  can't  follow  suit  and  can't  trump.  I  think 
I  see  what  he  intends  me  to  do  here.  I  've  a 
trump  and  a  small  club.  "  When  in  doubt,"  I 
recollect  the  infallible  rule,  ' '  play  a  trump. ' '  I 
don't  think  any  one  expected  this  trump.  Good 
play. 

Happy  Thought. — Trump.  I  look  up  diffi- 
dently ;  my  partner  laughs,  so  do  the  others. 


Bt  JBovor  251 


My  partner's  is  not  a  pleasant  laugh.  I  can't 
help  asking,  "Why?  isn't  that  right:  it's 
ours?"  "O  yes,"  says  my  partner,  sarcasti- 
cally "  it  is  ours,"  "  Only,"  explains  little  Bob 
Englefield,  "you've  trumped  your  partner's 
best  card." 

I  try  again  to  explain  that  by  7ny  computa- 
tion, the  Queen  of  Diamonds  had  been  played  a 
long  time  ago.  My  partner  won't  listen  to  rea- 
son. He  replies,  "  You  might  have  see  ft  that  it 
wasn't."  I  return,  "Well,  it  couldn't  be 
helped,  we  '11  win  the  game  yet."  This  I  add 
to  encourage  him,  though,  if  it  depends  on  me^ 
I   honestly    (to  myself)    don't   think  we  shall. 

Happy  Thought. — After  all,  we  do  get  the  odd 
trick.  Stenton  ought  to  be  in  a  better  humor, 
but  he  is  n't  ;  he  says,  "  The  odd  !  we  ought  to 
have  been  three."  Bnglefield  asks  me  how 
honors  are  ?  I  don't  know.  Stenton  says, 
"Why,  you  (meaning  me)  had  two  in  your  own 
hand."  "O  yes,  I  had."  I'd  forgotten  it. 
"Honors  easy,"  says  Stenton  to  me.  I  agree 
with   him.     Now  I  've  got  to  score  wnth  this 


252  'CBibist  iRuaacts 


confounded   shilling,  sixpence,  half-crown,  and 
a  candlestick. 

Happy  Thought. — Ask  Bob  Englefield  how 
he  scores  generally. 

He  replies,  '*0,  the  usual  way,"  and  as  he 
doesn't  illustrate  his  meaning,  his  reply  is  of 
no  use  to  me  whatever.  How  can  I  find  out 
without  showing  them  that  I  don't  know  ? 

Happy  Thought  {zvhile  Childers  deals). — Pre- 
tend to  forget  to  score  till  next  time.  Engle- 
field  will  have  to  do  it,  perhaps,  next  time,  then 
watch  Englefield.  Just  as  I  am  arranging  my 
cards  from  right  to  left — 

Happy  Thought. — To  alternate  the  colors 
black  and  red,  beginning  this  time  with  black 
(right)  as  spades  are  trumps.  Also  to  arrange 
them  in  their  rank  and  order  of  precedence. 
Ace  on  the  right,  if  I  've  got  one — yes — king 
next,  queen  next, — and  the  hand  begins  to  look 
very  pretty.  I  can  quite  imagine  Whist  being 
a  fascinating  game. — Stenton  reminds  me  that 
I  've  forgotten  to  mark  "  one  up." 


Bt  JSovor  253 


Happy  Thought. — Put  sixpence  by  itself  on 
my  left  hand.  Stenton  asks,  "  What 's  that 
for?"      » 

Happy  Thought. — To  say  it's  the  way  I 
alzuays  mark. 

Stenton  says,  "  O,  goon."  I  look  round  to 
see  what  we  're  waiting  for,  and  Englefield 
answers  me,  "Go  on,  it's  you;  you're  first 
hand."  I  beg  their  pardon.  I  must  play  some 
card  or  other  and  finish  arranging  my  hand 
during  the  round.  Anything  will  do  to  begin 
with.  Here  's  a  Two  of  Spades,  a  little  one,  on 
my  left  hand  ;  throw  him  out. 

"  Hallo  ! "  cries  Englefield,  second  hand, 
' '  Trumps  are  coming  out  early. ' '  I  quite  for- 
got spades  were  trumps  ;  that  comes  from  that 
horrid  little  card  being  on  the  left  instead  of 
the  right. 

Happy  Thought. — Not  to  show  my  mistake  ; 
nod  at  Englefield,  and  intimate  that  he  '11  see 
what 's  coming. 

So,  by  the  way,  will  my  partner.  In  a  polite 
moment  I  accept  another  cup  of  tea.      I  don't 


254  TlClbist  IFlUQgcte 


want  it,  and  have  to  put  it  by  the  half-crown, 
shilling  and  candlestick  on  the  whist-table, 
where  I  'm  afraid  of  knocking  it  over,  and  am 
obliged  to  let  it  get  quite  cold  as  I  have  to  at- 
tend to  the  game. 

Happening  to  be  taking  a  spoonful,  with  my 
eyes  anxiously  on  the  cards,  when  my  turn 
comes,  Stenton  says,  ''Do  play,  never  mind 
your  tea."  Whist  brutalizes  Stenton:  what  a 
pity  ! 

Happy  Thought. — Send  this  game,  as  a 
problem,  to  a  Sporting  Paper. 

Happy  Thought. — Why  not  write  generally 
for  Sporting  papers  ? 

Stenton  says,  "  Do  play  !  "     I  do. 

Happy  Thought.— Wriio^  a  Treatise  on  Whist, 
so  as  to  teach  myself  the  game. 


FINISHING  THE  RUBBER— NEW  GAME- 
CONVERSATION. 

We  finish  a  second  game,  and  Stenton  says, 
We  win  a  single."      This  I    am  to  score: 


Bt  JSovor  255 


having  some  vague  idea  on  the  subject,  I  hide 
my  half-crown  under  the  candlestick.  When 
our  adversaries  subsequently  win  a  double, 
and  there  is  some  dispute  about  what  we  've 
done  before,  I  forget  my  half-crown  under  the 
candlestick,  until  asked  rather  angrily  by 
Stenton  if  I  did  n't  mark  the  single,  when  I  am 
reminded  by  Poss  Felmyr  that  I  secreted  the 
half-crown.  This  I  produce  triumphantly  as  a 
proof  of  a  single. 

Happy  Thought.  —  Buy  Hoyle's  Laws  of 
Whist.  Every  one  ought  to  know  how  to  mark 
up  a  single  and  a  double. 

I  get  very  tired  of  whist  after  the  second 
round  of  the  third  game.  Wish  I  could  feel 
faint,  so  that  Poss  Felmyr  might  take  my 
place  ;  or  have  a  violent  fit  of  sneezing  which 
would  compel  me  to  leave  the  room. 

Happy  Thought. — If  you  give  your  mind  to 
it,  you  can  sneeze  sometimes.  I  talk  about 
draughts  and  sneezing,  while  Englefield  deals. 
Englefield  says,  apropos  of  sneezing,  that  he 


256  Wibiet  Bugsetg 


knew  a  man  who  always  caught  a  severe  cold 
whenever  he  ate  a  walnut.     If  a  fact :  curious. 

Old  Mrs.  Childers  has  woke  up  (she  has  been 
dozing  by  the  fire  wnth  her  knitting  on  the 
ground)  and  begins  "to  take  notice,"  as  they 
say  of  babies.  She  zvill  talk  to  me  :  I  can't 
attend  to  her  and  trumps  at  the  same  time.  I 
think  she  says  that  she  supposes  I  've  a  great 
deal  of  practice  in  whist-playing  at  the  clubs. 
I  say,  "Yes;  I  mean,  beg  her  pardon,  no," 
and  Stenton  asks  me,  before  taking  up  the  trick, 
if  I  have  n't  got  a  heart,  that  being  the  suit  I 
had  to  follow.  I  reply,  "  No,"  and  my  answer 
appears  to  disturb  the  game.  On  hearts  com- 
ing up  three  hands  afterwards,  I  find  a  two  of 
that  suit,  which,  being  sticky,  had  clung  to  a 
Knave  of  Diamonds. 

Happy  Thought. — "Heart  clinging  to  dia- 
monds" ;  love  yielding  to  the  influence  of 
wealth ;  or,  by  the  way,  vice  versa,  but  good 
idea,  somehow.  Won't  say  it  out,  or  they  '11 
discover  my  revoke. 


Bt  JBovot  257 


Happy  Thought.— K.^^^  the  two  until  the 
end  of  the  game,  and  throw  it  dowm  among  the 
rubbish  at  the  end.  I  suppose  the  last  cards 
which  players  always  dash  down  don't  count, 
and  mine  will  go  with  them  unobserved. 

Happy  Thought.— OuQ  act  of  duplicity  neces- 
sitates another,  just  as  one  card  will  not  stand 
upright  by  itself  without  another  to  support  it. 
[Put  this  into  "Moral  Inversions,"  forming 
heading  of  Chapter  10,  Book  vi.,  Vol.  xii.  of 
Typical  Developments.  Must  note  this  down 
to-night.] 

The  game  is  finishing.  Luckily,  our  oppo- 
nents have  it  all  their  own  way,  and  suddenly, 
much  to  my  surprise  and  relief,  they  show  their 
hands  and  win,  we  onh-  having  made  one 
trick. 

Happy  Thought.— Voss  Felmyr  takes  my 
place. 

On  reckoning  up  I  find  that  somehow  or 
other  I  've  lost  half  a  crown  more  than  I  ex- 
pected.    You  can  lose  a  good  deal  at  sixpenny 

J7 


258  Wbist  IFluggets 


points.  Stenton,  who  hears  this  remark  made 
to  Mrs.  Childers,  observes,  "Depends  how  you 
play."  I  do  not  retort,  as  I  am  fearful  about 
the  subject  of  revoking  coming  up.  Moral 
Query. — Was  what  I  did  with  my  Two  of  Hearts 
dishonest}'  or  nervousness  ?  Would  n't  it  lead 
to  cheating,  to  false  dice,  and  ultimately  to  the 
Old  Bailey?  I  put  these  questions  to  myself 
while  eating  a  delicate  piece  of  bread-and-butter 
handed  to  me  by  Mrs.  Felmyr.  I  smile  and 
thank  her,  even  while  these  thoughts  are  in  my 
bosom.  Ah,  Bob  Euglefield  has  no  such  stage 
for  his  dramas  as  the  human  bosom,  no  curtain 
that  hides  half  as  much  from  the  spectators  as 
a  single-breasted  waistcoat.  More  tea?  thank 
you,  yes. 

Happy  Thotight. — Single-breasted  waistcoat ! 
Ah,  who  is  single-breasted  ?  Is  that  the  fashion  ! 
[Note  all  this  dovv-n  in  cipher  in  my  book, 
* '  Moral  Inversion  ' '  chapter,  Typical  Develop- 
ments.'] 

I  pick  up  old  Mrs.  Childers'  knitting.  I 
take  this  opportunity  of  saying,  jocosely,  that 


Bt  3Bovor  259 


I  suppose  that  's  what  ladies  call  "dropping  a 
stitch."  No  one  hears  it,  except  the  old  lady, 
who  does  n't  understand  it.  I  shall  repeat  this 
another  day  when  they  're  not  playing  cards,  or 
talking  together,  as  the  ladies  are. 

Happy  Thought. — To  tell  it  as  one  of  Sheri- 
dan's good  things.     Then  they  '11  laugh. 

OJd  Mrs.  Childers  says  she  thinks  the  moat 's 
rising,  and  that  the  baker  will  have  to  come  over 
in  the  punt.  Childers,  at  the  table,  says  :  "  Non- 
sense, mother."  She  appeals  to  me  as  to 
whether  it  is  n't  damp,  and  whether  the  rain 
won't  make  the  moat  rise?  And  do  I  think, 
from  what  I  've  seen  of  it,  that  the  punt  is  safe 
for  the  baker  ?  Yes,  I  do  think  so.  She  observes 
that  I  'm  too  young  to  have  rheumatism,  or 
suffer  from  cold  in  the  ears.  I  don't  know  why 
I  should  feel  offended  at  the  old  lady's  remark, 
but  I  do.  I  feel  inclined  to  say  (rudely,  if  she 
was  n't  so  old)  that  I  'm  not  too  young,  and  have 
had  the  rheumatics:  the  latter  proudly.  She 
dares  say  I  don't  remember  the  flood  there  was 
in  Leicestershire  in  1812  !     No,  I  don't ;  "Was 


26o  TKIlblst  "BWQQCte 

it  bad?  "  I  ask— not  that  I  care,  but  I  like  to  be 
respectful  to  old  ladies.  "Ah!"  she  replies, 
shaking  her  head  slowly  at  the  fire,  as  if  it  was 
its  fault.     I  get  nothing  more  out  of  her. 

Mrs.  Childers  is  Nvorking  something  for  the 
children.  Mrs.  Poss  asks  about  a  peculiar  sort 
of  trimming  for  her  dress.  Mrs.  Childers  stops 
to  explain,  and  point  her  remarks  with  the 
scissors.  They  are  deep  in  congenial  subjects, 
and  don't  mind  me.  No  more  does  old  Mrs. 
Childers,  who  has  dropped  her  knitting,  and  is 
asleep  again,  quite  upright,  in  her  chair. 

Happy  Thought. — To  ask  the  ladies  to  play  on 
the  piano. 

It  will  disturb  the  game,  Mrs.  Childers  thinks. 
Two  of  the  players  seem  of  the  same  opinion, 
but  they  're  losing,  I  discover.  The  two  others 
are  smiling,  and  would  like  a  tune  to  enliven 
them.  Childers  calls  out  "  Mother  !"  loudly, 
which  makes  the  old  lady  wake  with  a  start,  and 
on  finding  that  the  moat  has  not  risen  and  that 
the  baker  has  fi't  come  in  the  punt  ("  which  she 
was  dreaming  of,  curious  enough,"  shesays),  she 


at  JBovor  261 


begs  Mat  not  to  call  like  that  again,  and  I  pick 
up  her  knitting  for  her.  She  thanks  me,  and 
asks  if  I  recollect  the  great  floods  in  Leicester- 
shire in  1812.  I  reply,  as  I  did  before,  that  I 
don't.  It  leads  to  no  information.  Wonder  how 
old  she  is  ? 

She  rises,  and  thinks,  my  dears,  that  it  is  time 
for  Bedfordshire,  which  is  her  little  joke  ;  she 
gives  it  us  every  night  at  exactly  the  same  time, 
and  in  exactly  the  same  manner.  It  always 
commands  a  laugh.  The  ladies  did  n't  know  it 
was  so  late,  and  put  up  their  work,  hoping  I  '11 
excuse  them  not  playing  this  evening.  They  're 
afraid  I  've  found  it  very  dull. 

Happy  Thought.— To  say,  "  More  dull  when 
you  're  away."  Just  stopped  in  time,  and  turnei] 
it  off  with  a  laugh  and  a  good  night.  I  must 
have  looked  as  if  I  was  going  to  say  something, 
as  Mrs.  Poss  says,  "  What?  "  and  I  reply,  "  Oh, 
nothing,"  vaguely,  and  she  laughs,  and  I  laugh, 
and  Mrs.  Childers  laughs,  and  says  good  night 
laughing,  and  old  Mrs.  Childers  smiles  and 
repeats  her  joke  about  Bedfordshire,  which  she 


262  mbiet  nmc\cxs 


evidently  thinks  we  are  all  still  laughing  at, 
and  this  makes  us  all  laugh  again,  and  vStenton 
and  Englefield,  who,  having  lost,  are  fondly 
clinging  to  the  whist-table,  laugh  as  well,  and 
saying  good  night  becomes  quite  a  hysterically 
comic  piece  of  work,  so  much  so  that  I  wonder 
we -don't  all  sit  down  in  our  chairs,  or  on  the 
carpet  (old  Mrs.  Childers  on  the  carpet !)  and 
have  convulsions  ;  and  all  this  because  I  did  n't 
say  what  I  was  going  to  say.  They  did  n't 
laugh  when  I  did  make  a  really  good  joke  this 
evening. 

The  ladies  have  gone.  ' '  Now, ' '  says  Childers, 
"  how  about  pipes  and  grogs?  "  Carried  nern. 
con.  Englefield  proposes  we  stop  whist  and  play 
Bolerum.  What  is  Bolerum  ?  Does  n't  any  one 
know  ?  Childers  knows,  it  appears  ;  he  and 
Englefield  will  show  it  us  :  and  to  begin  with, 
he  and  Englefield  (this,  they  say,  will  simplify 
matters)  will  keep  the  bank. 

The  game,  they  explain,  is  very  simple  :  so  it 
appears.  In  fact  its  simplicity  hardly  seems  to 
be  its  great  charm  to  those  who  do  not  happen 
to  be  the  bank.     The   players   back  their  six- 


Bt  3B0V0V  263 


pences  agaiust  the  bank,  and  the  bank  wins. 
Childers  calls  it  "  a  pretty  game." 

"One,  two,  three,  four, — bank  w4ns,"  cries 
Englefield  ;  "  pay  up  !  "  And  we  give  him  six- 
pence apiece. 

"  One,  two,  three,  four,  five, — bank  again," 
cries  Childers  ;  "tizzies  round,"  by  which  he 
means  that  we  are  again  to  subscribe  sixpence 
apiece.  Poss  says,  after  five  times  of  this,  that 
he  doesn't  see  it.  Stenton,  the  philosopher, 
taking  a  mathematical  view  of  it,  attempts  to 
show  how  many  chances  there  are  in  the  players 
favor,  but  ends  in  demonstrating  clearly  that  it 
is  at  least  a  hundred  to  one  on  the  bank  each 
time.  This  argument  occupies  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  and  three  pieces  of  note  paper,  which 
Stenton  covers  with  algebraic  signs.  Childers 
still  sticks  to  it,  that  "  it 's  a  pretty  game."  We 
admit  that  it  is  very  pretty,  but  we  get  up  from 
the  table.  What  game  shall  we  play  ?  We 
decide  (and  sixpences  are  at  the  bottom  of  our 
decision),  "None." 

"Quite  cold,"  observes  Stenton.  We  gather 
in  front  of  the  fire. 


264  TKHbist  IRuaacts 

Poss  suddenly  wonders  that  I  've  not  5'etseen 
the  ghost  in  my  room.  Childers  says  "Ah," 
and  then  we  all  stare  at  the  fire,  wondering  at 
nothing  :  silence. 

Childers  turns  quietly  to  Englefield,  and 
inquires,  "if  he  knows  Jimmy  Flewter?" 
Englefield  does.  Childers  asks  "  if  he  heard 
about  his  row  with  Menzies  ? ' '  Engl  efield,  with 
his  pipe  in  his  mouth,  and  embracing  his  knee, 
nods  assent.  "  It 's  settled,"  says  Childers,  and 
stares  at  the  fire  again,  "Foolish  of  him," 
observes  Poss.  "Ver}-,"  says  Stenton,  in  his 
deep  bass.  It  would  be  rude  to  ask  who  Flewter 
is.  but  this  sort  of  conversation  is  ver>'  irritating. 

Childers  anticipates  me  by  saj-ing,  "You 
don't  know  Jimmy  Flewter?"  I  do  not,  but 
signify  I  am  ready  to  hear  anything  to  his 
advantage  or  disadvantage  for  the  sake  of 
conversation. 

"Ah,  then,"  returns  Childers,  "  you  would  n't 
enjoy  the  stor\-." 

"  Must  know  the  man,"  puts  in  Stenton,  "to 
enjoy  the  story."  Poss  assents,  and  smiles  as  if 
at  a  reminiscence.     They  all  chuckle  to  them- 


Bt  JSovor  265 


selves.  I  wish  I  had  a  story  to  chuckle  over  to 
myself.     I  wish  I  knew  Flewter. 

"Seen  my  lord,  to-day  ?  "  asks  Englefield  of 
Childers.     Wonder  who  "My  lord"  is. 

"  No,  comes  to-morrow,"  is  the  answer. 

"Paint?"  asks  Poss.  "Sketch,"  answers 
Childers. 

"  Odd  fish,"  observes  Bob  Englefield,  putting 
on  his  spectacles  to  wind  up  his  watch.  "Very," 
says  Poss.  We  knock  out  our  ashes,  and, 
finishing  our  grog,  go  to  bed. 

Happy  T/W2tg/if.— Shall  find  out  who  "My 
lord"  is  to-morrow.  Hang  Flewter!  Rain, 
violent :  no  ghost.  Room  seems  darker.  Win- 
dow troublesome.  Think  of  Fridoline.  Wish 
it  was  Valentine's  Day,  I  'd  send  her  a  sonnet. 
Too  sleepy  to  think  of  it  now.  *  *  *  Jimmy 
Flewter.     *     *     * 

F.    C.    BURNARD 


EDWARD    EVERETT    AT  THE 
COURT  OF  ST.  JAMES.* 

A  RECENT  statement  that  a  uewly  nominated 
^*-  minister  to  England  did  not  play  anj-  game 
at  cards  reminded  the  Easy  Chair  of  a  little 
incident  which  it  remembered  to  have  heard 
related  by  one  of  the  most  accomplished  of  our 
foreign  ministers — Edward  Everett.  Mr.  Ever- 
ett's accomplishments  were  different  from  those 
of  an  American  minister  who  was  once  sent  to 
the  Court  of  France,  and  of  whom  an  admiring 
attache  remarked,  with  enthusiasm,  that  he 
could  ''  smoke  and  chew  perfectly  at  the  same 
time."  Presumptively  the  same  gentleman 
could  play  an  excellent  game  at  whist.  But 
this,  as  Mr.  Everett  said,  was  very  much  more 
*  By  the  courtesy  of  George  William  Curtis. 
265 


BDwavO  Bverctt  267 

than  he  could  do.  According  to  the  story,  Mr. 
Everett  was  to  present  his  credentials  to  the 
Queen  on  the  same  day  with  the  presentation 
of  the  Italian  Minister,  and  repaired  at  the 
proper  hour,  in  the  costume  of  ceremony,  to  the 
palace,  where  he  found  his  Italian  colleague, 
also  officially  and  splendidly  arrayed.  The 
presentation  took  place  in  due  form,  and  the 
ministers  having  been  bidden  to  dinner,  were 
informed  by  the  Prime  Minister  that  the  Duchess 
of  Kent,  the  Queen's  mother,  desired  them  to 
join  her  in  a  game  of  whist. 

"I  am  sorry  for  either  cf  you  who  maybe 
my  partner,"  said  the  Prime  Minister,  smiling, 
as  he  rose  to  lead  the  way  to  the  Duchess,. "  for 
I  know  very  little  about  the  game." 

As  they  passed  along,  Mr.  Everett  turned  to 
his  diplomatic  companion,  and  said,  with  lofty 
urbanity:  "I  also  must  entreat  your  Excel- 
lency's forbearance  if  you  should  have  the 
misfortune  to  be  allotted  tome  as  a  partner,  for 
I  have  very  little  practice  in  the  game."  The 
Italian  Excellency  bowed  courteously,  and 
gravely  assured    the   American    Minister  that 


268  mblst  mugaetg 


the  necessity  of  forbearance  was  mutual,  for  he 
also  had  very  little  acquaintance  with  the  game. 
The  Duchess  received  her  guests  with  all  cere- 
mony, and  having  indicated  who  was  to  be  her 
partner,  the  three  dignified  personages  who 
were  not  very  familiar  with  whist  seated  them- 
selves, and  the  game  was  about  to  begin,  when 
a  lady  of  honor  placed  herself  by  the  chair  of 
the  Duchess,  who  graciousl}-  remarked  to  her 
companions  :  "  Your  Excellencies  will  excuse 
me,  but,  to  prevent  embarrassment  to  you,  I 
have  requested  this  lady  to  prompt  me,  as, 
indeed,  I  am  not  very  familiar  with  the  game." 
The  Excellencies  bowed  profoundly,  and  the 
ceremonial  game  of  whist  proceeded. 

Se  non  e  vero,  e  ben  trovato.  Mr.  Everett 
had  a  keen  sense  of  humor,  and  he  said  that  in 
all  his  official  life  he  had  seen  nothing  more 
absurd  than  that  game.  He  was  an  excellent 
stor^'-teller,  and  the  narrative  lost  nothing 
in  the  telling  that  Washington  Irving  was  one 
of  the  amused  listeners.  The  recent  Con- 
gressional debate  upon  diplomatic  appropri- 
ations revealed  the  fact  that   there  is  a  great 


JBDwaiD  Bverett  269 

deal  of  this  kind  of  dummy  whist  in  diplo- 
matic life,  a  great  deal  of  playing  at  playing 
at  cards,  solemnly  and  in  fine  clothes.  It  is 
perhaps  no  serious  disadvantage  to  an  American 
minister  that  he  is  not  an  accomplished  whist- 
player,  nor  even  an  expert  in  simultaneous 
smoking  and  chewing.  The  Easy  Chair  has 
seen  in  other  years  an  American  minister  driv- 
ing through  the  streets  of  a  great  city,  during  a 
festival,  with  one  leg  hanging  over  the  side  of 
an  open  carriage,  and  a  cigar  protruding  from 
his  mouth  at  the  familiar  Bowery  angle.  Within 
the  range  of  the  same  memory  another  Ameri- 
can minister  stood  in  the  balcony  of  a  hotel  in 
the  costume  of  the  King  of  the  Cannibal  Isl- 
ands, haranguing  the  wondering  crowd  in  the 
street  with  the  tearful  pathos  of  Senator  Dil- 
worthy.  Still  another  received  two  American 
ladies  by  appointment  in  his  chamber  at  an  inn 
in  the  morning,  wearing  his  hat,  and  with  a 
half-emptied  bottle  of  w^hiskey  standing  upon 
the  table.  Expressive  silence  may  muse  the 
moral.  But  it  is  pertinent  for  the  Easy  Chair, 
which  deals  with  the  minor  morals  and  manners. 


270  'mbiet  IRuggets 


to  suggest  that  they  should  always  be  reckoned 
as  necessary  parts  of  the  outfit  of  every  Ameri- 
can minister,  as  indeed,  they  conspicuously 
have  been  in  the  instance  of  Mr.  Everett  him- 
self and  some  of  his  illustrious  successors. 
George  Wieeiam  Curtis, 

in  "Editor's  Easy  Chair,"  Harper's 
Monthly  Magazine. 


MKTTERNICH'S  WHIST. 


p  E  sure,  too,  that  the  pursuit  of  this  en- 
^— '  chanting  game  does  not  tempt  you  to 
neglect  your  duties  in  other  respects.  Do  all 
your  work  thoroughly  before  you  sit  down. 
Without  putting  the  matter  upon  higher  ground, 
there  is  nothing  that  injures  an  honest  man's 
game  more  than  the  reflection  that  he  has  left 
a  duty  unfulfilled  ;  his  conscience  whisks  away 
his  attention,  and  his  money  and  his  temper 
are  then  pretty  sure  to  follow.  Whist  embit- 
tered the  death-bed  of  the  great  Metternich. 

Fifteen  years  before  his  death,  that  great 
statesman  knew  little  of  the  wondrous  game,  as 
full  of  wiles  and  stratagems  as  his  own  crafty 
mind. 

271 


Timbist  IRuocjcts 


I  was  walking  with  him  at  that  period  in  a 
gallery  of  his  own  house  at  Vienna,  and 
through  an  open  door  we  perceived  some  ladies 
of  his  family  playing  at  whist. 

"  That  is  a  game,"  remarked  he,  "onl}^  fit  for 
women  and  fools." 

I  smiled  and  shook  my  head. 

"  I  have  played  whist  for  fifty  years,  I  tell 
you,"  continued  the  prince,  a  little  heated  by 
my  pantomimic  contradiction,  "  and  I  think  I 
am  capable  of  forming  an  opinion." 

"You  have  played  something  for  fifty  years, 
prince,"  returned  I,  pityingly,  "but  you  never 
played  whist  in  your  life." 

The  astute  Austrian  was  so  struck  with  the 
audacious  confidence  of  my  assertion,  that  he 
submitted  to  become  my  pupil  in  the  science. 

I  do  not  say  that  he  surpassed  his  tutor,  for 
that  would  be  gross  flattery  ;  but  he  verj-  soon 
7/;^learned  what  he  knew,  and  got  to  play  a 
most  admirable  game.  He  threw  himself  into 
the  new  art  with  his  accustomed  energy,  and 
soon  became  passionately  attached  to  it.  Years 
afterwards  an  express  arrived  with  despatches 


/Ilbetternlcb's  TUHbist  273 

for  him  from  Galicia  and  found  him  engaged 
at  his  favorite  game. 

He  placed  the  papers  on  the  mantel-piece 
and  went  on  playing  throughout  that  night  and 
far  into  the  morning.  When  the  party  broke 
up  he  was  horrified  to  discover  that  upon  his 
immediate  reply  depended  the  fate  of  two 
thousand  persons. 

The   infamous  "  Galician  Massacre"    would 
never  have  taken  place  if  Mettemich  had  not 
loved    whist    "not    wisely,    but    too    well." 
Chamber's  Journal. 


LORD     LYTTOX     AS     A     WHIST- 
PLAYER. 

LORD  LYTTOX  was  very  fond  of  whist,  and 
lie  and  I  both  belonged  to  the  w^ell-known 
Portland  Club,  in  which  were  to  be  found  many 
of  the  celebrated  players  of  the  day.  He  never 
showed  the  slightest  disposition  of  a  gambler. 
He  played  the  game  well,  and  without  excite- 
ment or  temper,  and  apparently  his  whole 
attention  was  concentrated  upon  it ;  but  it  was 
curious  to  see  that  at  every  interval  that  oc- 
curred in  the  rubbers  he  would  rush  off  to  a 
writing-table,  and  with  equally  concentrated 
attention  proceed  with  some  literary  work  until 
called  again  to  take  his  place  at  the  whist-table. 
There  was  a  member  of  the  club,  a  very  harm- 
less, inoffensive  man.  of  the  name  of  Townend, 
-74 


XorD  %^tton  as  a  Mbistsjpia^er  275 

for  whom  Lord  Lyttou  entertained  a  mortal 
antipathy,  and  would  never  play  whist  while 
that  gentleman  was  in  the  room.  He  firmly 
believed  that  he  brought  him  bad  luck.  I  was 
witness  to  what  must  be  termed  an  odd  coinci- 
dence. One  afternoon,  when  Lord  Lytton  was 
playing,  and  had  enjoyed  an  uninterrupted  run 
of  luck,  it  suddenly  turned,  upon  which  he 
exclaimed,  "  I  am  sure  that  Mr.  Townend  has 
come  into  the  club."  Some  three  minutes 
after,  just  time  enough  to  ascend  the  stairs,  in 
walked  this  unlucky  personage.  Lord  Lytton, 
as  soon  as  the  rubber  was  over,  left  the  table 
and  did  not  renew  the  play. 

Serjeant  Bali^antine's 
Experiences  of  a  Barrister's  Life. 


SOME   LITERARY    RECOLLEC- 
TIONS.^^ 

*  *  *  For  the  last  live-and-twenty  years  of 
my  life  I  have  only  had  three  days  of  consecu- 
tive holiday  once  a  year  ;  while  all  the  year 
round  (from  another  necessity  of  the  pen)  the 
Sundays  have  been  as  much  working-days  with 
me  as  the  week-days. 

Such  from-day-to-day  labors,  though  not,  it  is 
true,  extending  to  long  hours,  would  perhaps 
have  been  impossible  but  for  the  relief  afforded 
by  some  favorite  amusement.  This,  in  my  case, 
as  it  has  been  in  that  of  much  greater  men,  has 
been  the  noble  game  of  whist,  which  I  have 
played  regularly,  for  two  or  three  hours  a  day, 
for  the  last  thirty  years.  It  does  not,  indeed, 
much  matter  what  it  is,  so  that  the  relaxation  is 
an  attractive  one,  but  I  pity  that  man  from  the 
*  By  permission  of  Messrs.  Harper  &  Brothers. 
276 


Some  Xiterar^  IRecollectlons       277 


bottom  of  my  heart  who  can  find  no  interest  in 
a  game.  It  is  not  every  one  who,  like  Sarah 
Battle,  can  relax  their  minds  over  a  book,  and 
least  of  all  those  w^ho  write  books.  I  have 
noticed  that  those  of  my  own  calling  who  read 
the  most  are  not  the  best  students  of  human 
nature,  and  fall  most  often  into  the  pit  of  plagi- 
arism. How  often  have  I  heard  it  said — too 
late — by  those  who  have  most  certainly  earned 
their  play -time  :  "  How  I  wish  I  had  an  amuse- 
ment !  "  The  taste  for  such  things  must  be 
caught  early  (like  the  measles)  and  indulged 
(like  the  patient). 

What  position,  for  example,  is  more  unsatis- 
factory than  that  of  the  man  who  has  only 
played  whist  occasionally — say  once  a  week — 
and  "  makes  up  a  rubber  to  oblige  "  ? 

In  a  partner's  eyes,  at  lea.st,  such  a  person 
will  never  meet  his  obligations.  Mackwortli 
Praed  must  have  been  a  whist-player,  or  he 
never  could  have  depicted  Quince : 

"  Some  public  principles  he  had, 
But  was  no  flatterer  nor  fretter  ; 
He  rapped  his  box  when  things  were  bad 
And  said,  '  I  cannot  make  them  better.' 


278  Mbist  muaaets 

And  much  he  loathed  the  patriots'  snort, 
And  much  he  scorned  the  placeman's  snuflBe, 

And  cut  the  fiercest  quarrel  short 
With  '  patience,  gentlemen,  and  shuffle.'  " 

Men  of  letters  are  rarely  good  card-players — 
Lord  Lytton  and  Lever  are  almost  the  only 
exceptions  I  can  call  to  mind, — but  some  of 
them  have  been  fond  of  whist,  and  have  en- 
livened it  by  their  sallies.  A  few  of  these, 
which  I  have  happened  myself  to  hear,  seem 
worthy  of  record. 

A  guest  being  asked  to  a  dinner-party,  which 
was  to  precede  an  evening  at  cards,  thus  apolo- 
gized for  coming  in  morning  costume  :  "  The 
suit  is  surely  no  matter,  so  long  as  one  is  a 
trump." 

A  man  who  had  his  foot  on  a  gout-rest  was 
holding  very  bad  cards,  and  complaining  alike 
of  his  luck  and  his  malady.  Upon  being  re- 
proached by  his  more  fortunate  adversary  for 
his  irritation,  he  suddenly  exclaimed:  "It's 
all  very  well  for  you,  but  a  '  game  hand  '  is  a 
very  different  thing  from  a  '  game  leg.'  " 

On  another  occasion  the  same  gentleman 
(whose  temper,  gout  or  no  gout,  w^as  always  a 


Some  Xiteravg  IRecoUectlone       279 

little  short),  jumped  up  from  the  seat  where  he 
had  been  losing  and  declared  that  he  would 
play  no  more.  •'  But  you  '11  break  up  the 
table,"  pleaded  the  others  pathetically,  "If  it 
is  broken  up  there  will  still  be  three  '  legs  ' 
left,"  was  his  uncompromising  reply. 

A  whist-player,  who,  even  though  a  loser, 
ought  to  have  known  better  than  to  have  jested 
upon  such  a  tender  subject,  once  remarked, 
in  reference  to  the  considerable  number  of 
novels  for  which  I  have  been  responsible  : 
"Nobody  can  deny,  my  dear  fellow,  that  you 
have  great  '  numerical  strength,'  " 

I  remember  a    little    poem   called  Dumby, 

written  by  a  brother  novelist,  who  has  himself, 

alas  !   left  a  vacant    place   at  the    four-square 

table  forever,  which  has  a  pathetic  singularity 

about  it : 

"  I  see  the  face  of  the  friend  I  lost 
»  Before  me  as  I  sit, 

His  thin  white  hands,  so  subtle  and  swift, 
And  his  eyes  that  gleam  with  wit, 

"  I  see  him  across  the  square  green  cloth 
That 's  dappled  with  black  and  red  ; 
Between  the  luminous  globes  of  light 
I  watch  the  friend  long  dead. 


28o  Timbist  IRu^aetB 


**  It  is  only  I  who  can  see  him  there, 
With  victory  in  his  glance, 
As,  the  cross  rufFstopped,  he  strides  along 
Ivike  Wellington  through  France. 

**  He  died  years  past  in  the  jungle  reeds, 
But  still  I  see  him  sit. 
Facing  rae  with  his  fan  of  cards, 
And  those  eyes  that  beam  with  wit." 

James  Payn. 


ANECDOTES  FROM  CAVENDISH'S 
CARD-TABLE  TALK. 


WHEN  my  book  on  whist  was  first  pub- 
lished the  authorship  was  kept  a  profound 
secret.  I  sent  a  copy,  "  with  the  author's  com- 
pliments," to  my  father,  and  great  was  the 
amusement  of  my  brother  (who  knew  all  about 
it)  and  myself  at  the  "  Governor's  "  guesses  as 
to  where  it  could  have  come  from. 

One  evening,  when  about  to  play  a  family 
rubber  for  love,  we  proposed  to  the  "  Gov- 
ernor" to  play  one  of  the  hands  in  the  book, 
"  to  see  if  the  fellow  knew  anything  about  it." 
He  consented.  We  sorted  one  of  the  hands 
(Hand  No.  xxxvi.,  p.  246,  12th  edition),  giving 
my  father  Y's  hand,  others  of  our  circle  taking 
the  other  hands,  and  m}-  brother  sitting  out 
281 


282  mbist  musaets 

book  in  band,  to  see  whether  we  followed  the 
"  book  "  play. 

The  "Governor"  played  the  hand  all  right 
till  he  came  to  the  coup  at  trick  9,  when  he 
went  on  with  his  established  diamonds, 

Frater.  (interrupting). — The  book  says  that 
is  wrong. 

Pater. — Well,  what  does  the  book  say  ? 

Frater. — The  book  says  you  should  lead  a 
trump. 

Pater. — But  there  are  no  more  trumps  in  ! 
(Hesitates,  and  seeing  that  he  has  two  trumps, 
and  that  leading  one  of  them  will  not  do  any 
harm,  leads  it,  and  then  turns  round  triumph- 
antly and  says)  :  Now  what  does  the  book  say  ? 

Frater  (very  quietly). — The  book  says  you 
should  lead  another  trump. 

This  was  too  much.  Lead  a  thirteenth  trump 
when  you  can  give  your  partner  a  discard  ! 
Oh  !  no  !  So  the  "  Governor  "  would  not  and 
did  not  lead  the  trump,  and  he  scored  four. 

We  then  persuaded  him  to  play  the  hand 
again,  and  to  lead  the  thirteenth  trump.  To 
his  surprise  he  scored  five. 


Cav>en()isb*6  CarO^^able  Z^l\\      283 

He  then  admitted  it  was  "  very  good,"  but 
could  not  think  who  in  the  world  had  sent  him 
that  book. 

Clay  told  me  that  when  he  first  played  whist 
at  a  lyondon  club  he  was  horrified  to  see  an  old 
gentleman  deliberately  looking  over  one  of  his 
adversaries'  hands.  Mr.  Pacey,  the  player 
whose  hand  was  overlooked,  was,  as  it  hap- 
pened, an  old  friend  of  Clay's,  and,  the  rubber 
being  over.  Clay  took  an  immediate  opportunity 
of  advising  him   to   hold  up  his  hand   when 

playing  against  P ,  adding  : 

*'  The  last  hand  he  saw  every  card  you  held." 
"Oh  !  no  !  he  did  n't !  "  replied  Mr.  Pacey, 

who  was  well   aware  of  P 's  peculiarities, 

*'  he  only  saw  a  few  I  put  in  the  corner  to  puzzle 
him." 

Cavendish's  Card-Table  Talk. 


ADVANTAGE  OF  SKILL  AT 
WHIST. 

1  N  the  latter  part  of  the  winter  of  1857,  during 
*  an  after-dinner  conversation,  it  was  re- 
marked by  some  of  the  party  that  whist  is  a 
mere  matter  of  chance,  since  no  amount  of 
ingenuity  can  make  a  king  win  an  ace,  and  so 
on.  This  produced  an  argument  as  to  the 
merits  of  the  game  ;  and,  as  two  of  the  dispu- 
tants obstinately  maintained  the  original  posi- 
tion, it  was  proposed  to  test  their  powers  by 
matching  them  against  two  excellent  players 
in  the  room.  To  this  match,  strange  to  say, 
the  bad  players  agreed,  and  a  date  was  fixed. 
Before  the  day  arrived  it  was  proposed  to  play 
the  match  in  double,  another  rubber  of  two 
good  against  two  bad  players  being  formed  in 
an  adjoining  room,  and  the  hands  being  played 
284 


BOvantage  of  SWill  at  "Mbtst      2S5 

over  again,  the  good  players  having  the  cards 
previously  held  by  the  bad  ones,  and  vice  versa, 
the  order  of  the  play  being,  of  course,  in  every 
other  respect  preserved.  The  difficulty  now 
was  to  find  two  players  sufficiently  bad  for  this 
purpose  ;  but  two  men  w^ere  found,  on  condition 
of  having  odds  laid  them  at  starting,  which 
was  accordingly  done. 

On  the  appointed  day  a  table  was  formed  in 
room  A,  and  as  soon  as  the  first  hand  was 
played,  the  cards  were  re-sorted  and  conveyed 
into  room  B.  There  the  hand  was  played  over 
again,  the  good  players  in  room  B  having 
the  cards  that  the  bad  players  had  in  room  A. 
At  the  end  of  the  hand  the  result  was  noted  for 
comparison,  independently  of  the  score,  which 
was  conducted  in  the  usual  way.  Thirty-three 
hands  were  played  in  each  room.  In  room  A 
the  good  players  held  very  good  cards,  and  won 
four  rubbers  out  of  six  ;  in  points,  a  balance  of 
eighteen.  In  room  B  the  good  players  had,  of 
course,  the  bad  cards.  They  played  seven  rub- 
bers, with  the  same  number  of  hands  that  in 
the  other  room  had  played  six,  and  they  won 


286  "Wllbist  IFlugciets 

three  out  of  the  seven,  losing  seven  points  on 
the  balance.  The  difference,  therefore,  was 
eleven  points,  or  nearly  one  point  a  rubber  in 
favor  of  skill. 

A  comparison  of  tricks  only  showed  some 
curious  results.  In  seven  of  the  hands  the 
score  by  cards  in  each  room  was  the  same.  In 
eighteen  hands  the  balance  of  the  score  by 
cards  was  in  favor  of  the  superior  players  ;  in 
eight  hands  in  favor  of  the  inferior.  In  one 
of  these  hands  the  bad  players  won  two  by 
cards  at  one  table,  and  three  by  cards  at  the 
other. 

The  most  important  result  is  that  at  both 
tables  the  superior  players  gained  a  majority  of 
tricks.  In  room  A  they  won  on  the  balance 
nineteen  by  tricks  ;  in  room  B  they  won  two 
by  tricks. 

It  will  be  observed  that  this  experiment  does 
not  altogether  eliminate  luck,  as  bad  play  some- 
times succeeds.  But  by  far  the  greater  part  of 
luck,  viz.,  that  due  to  the  superiority  of  win- 
ning cards,  is,  by  the  plan  described,  quite 
got  rid  of. 


BDvantage  of  Shill  at  mbist       287 

Dr.  Pole  (the  Field,  June  16,  1866)  arrives  at 
nearly  the  same  result  by  a  statistical  method. 
He  writes  to  this  effect  : 

"It  is  very  desirable  to  ascertain  the  value 
of  skill  at  whist. 

"  The  voluntary  power  we  have  over  results 
at  whist  is  compounded  of — i.  The  system  of 
play. — 2.     The  personal  skill  employed." 

The  modern  system,  which  combines  the 
hands  of  the  two  partners,  as  against  no  system 
(the  personal  skill  of  all  being  pretty  equal),  is 
worth— Dr.  Pole  thinks— about  half  a  point  a 
rubber,  or  rather  more.  About  nine  hundred 
rubbers  played  by  systematic  against  old-fash- 
ioned players  gave  a  balance  of  nearly  five 
hundred  points  in  favor  of  system. 

The  personal  skill  will  vary  with  each  indi- 
vidual, and  is  difficult  to  estimate  ;  but,  looking 
at  published  statistics,  in  which  Dr.  Pole  had 
confidence,  he  puts  the  advantage  of  a  very 
superior  player  (all  using  system)  at  about  a 
quarter  of  a  point  a  rubber  ;  consequently  the 
advantage  due  to  combined  personal  skill  (/.  e., 
two   very    skilful    against   two    ver}'   unskilful 


288  'Mbist  IFluggcts 

players,  all  using  system),  would  be  more  than 
half  a  point  a  rubber. 

The  conclusion  arrived  at  by  Dr.  Pole  is  that 
"  the  total  advantage  of  both  elements  of  power 
over  results  at  Whist  may,  under  very  favorable 
circumstances,  be  expected  to  amount  to  as 
much  as  one  point  per  rubber," 

Now,  at  play-clubs,  nearly  all  the  players 
adhere  more  or  less  closely  to  system,  and  the 
great  majorit}-  have  considerable  personal  skill. 
Consequently,  only  the  very  skilful  player  can 
expect  to  win  anything,  and  he  will  only  have 
the  best  player  at  the  table  for  a  partner,  on  an 
average,  once  in  three  times.  It  follows  from 
this  that  the  expectation  of  a  very  skilful  player 
at  a  play-club  will  only  average,  at  the  most 
say  a  fifth  or  a  sixth  of  a  point  a  rubber. 

Cavendish's  Card- Table  Talk. 


SOME  WHIST  CHAT. 


A  FEW  months  ago  an  essay  of  mine  on  the 
•'*'  American  card  game,  poker,  appeared  in 
these  pages.  I  have  been  since  told  by  Amer- 
icans, with  that  frankness  which  is  so  engaging 
a  quality  of  theirs,  that  though  I  may  be  able 
to  calculate  to  a  nicety  the  chances  of  the  vari- 
ous poker  hands,  and  those  on  which  the  draw- 
ing of  fresh  cards  at  poker  depends,  I  should 
be  everlastingly  beaten  if  I  played  at  poker  in 
America.  I  think  it  exceedingly  likely,  for  pok- 
er is  not  a  game  at  which  I  have  ever  played. 
I  shall  probably  escape  crushing  defeat  at  the 
game,  because  I  am  never  likely  to  play  it.  It 
is  a  game  expressly  invented  for  betting  pur- 
poses, and  betting  has  always  seemed  to  me 
a  foolish  and  degrading  habit ;  so  that  I  am  not 
19  289 


290  Wibiet  Budgets 

likely  to  find  myself  at  the  same  table  with 
American  poker-players.  Moreover,  if  news- 
paper notes  do  them  justice,  some  of  the  most 
successful  exponents  of  the  game  in  America 
modify  their  chances  by  manipulative  processes 
which  I  had  not  taken  into  account  in  my  poker 
essay.  The  chance  of  a  hand  with  four  aces, 
for  example,  is  by  no  means  what  is  indicated 
in  that  essay  if  the  dealer  is  able  by  dexterity 
of  hand  to  deal  himself  any  cards  he  may 
please.  In  the  company  of  ordinary  players, 
again,  a  full  hand  is  doubtless  a  very  good  hand 
to  stand  on,  but  a  man  of  guileless  type  would 
be  wise  not  to  stand  on  a  hand  even  of  four  kings 
if  he  found  a  dexterous  opponent  putting  money 
down  hea\dly,  lest  it  should  presently  appear 
that  the  four  kings  had  been  dealt  him  specially 
to  make  him  wager  freely  by  an  opponent  who 
had  at  the  same  time  dealt  himself  four  aces  or 
a  straight  flush.  Such  things  have  been ;  and 
it  is  by  no  means  uncommon  in  some  parts  of 
America  for  a  man  to  lay  down  with  a  sigh,  a 
hand  of  four  knaves,  queens,  or  kings  (face 
downwards  be  it  understood,  lest  he  should  be 


Some  umbist  Cbat  291 

shot  for  the  implied  suspicion,  even  though  four 
aces  should  lie  under  the  shooter's  hand).  It  is 
even  said,  I  know  not  with  what  degree  of 
truth,  that  in  some  Western  States  you  must 
not  be  unduly  pained  if  you  should  find  four 
aces  beaten  by  five  jacks  ;  still  less  must  you 
question  whether  five  jacks  belong  naturally  to 
a  normal  pack. 

What  a  relief  it  is  to  turn  from  a  game  like 
poker,  associated  with  greed  and  lying  bluster 
and  brag,  to  the  noble  game  which  every  Eng- 
lishman loves  (though  few  play  it  well) — the 
best  if  not  the  oldest  of  card  games — whist ! 
It  is  played  indeed  for  money,  as  poker  is  ;  but 
with  what  a  difference  !  At  poker  the  money  is 
everything  ;  no  one  w^ould  think  of  playing  at 
the  game  except  to  win  or  lose  money  ;  at  whist, 
the  chief  reason  why  money  is  staked  is  that 
the  game  may  be  well  and  truly  played.  No 
true  lover  of  whist  would  like  to  hear  such 
stories  of  money  lost  and  won  at  whist  as  are 
told  of  exciting  poker  games.  The  author  of 
Guy  Livi?igsto?ie,  in  hXs  Belle  Dame  sans  3Ierci, 
introduces  a  story  originally  told  about  the  skil- 


292  "MbiSt   "UUQQCtS 

ful  whist-player  James  Clay,  which  seems  to  im- 
ply that  many  fortunes  have  been  lost  by  bad 
whist  play.  A  partner  of  Clay's  had  lost  a  game 
by  leading  from  a  plain  suit,  though  holding  five 
trumps,  one  honor.  At  the  close  of  the  hand 
he  asked  Clay  (who  loved  him  not)  whether  a 
trump  lead  would  not  have  been  wiser.  "It  is 
computed,"  slowly  and  gravely  answered  the 
great  whist-player,  "  that  eleven  thousand  men, 
once  heirs  to  fair  fortunes,  are  now  wandering 
abroad  in  a  state  of  destitution  because  they 
would  not  lead  trumps  from  five,  one  honor." 
But  either  Clay  was  savage  at  the  foolish  play 
of  his  partner,  in  which  case  a  man  will  saj- 
anything,  or  he  purposely  Americanized  the 
truth,  which,  correctly  expressed,  would  have 
been  less  amusing  and  effective.  For  where 
would  have  been  the  interest  of  such  a  rejoinder 
as  this  ?  "  It  is  computed  that  by  failing  to  take 
the  chance  of  a  great  game  which  the  posses- 
sion of  five  trumps,  one  honor  gives  you  and 
your  partner,  you  lose  about  one  point  out  of 
23i"t  ^^  those  which,  but  for  this  fault  of  play, 
you  would  have  made  in  the  course  of  a  suflS- 


Some  Mblet  Cbat  293 


ciently  long  run  ;  supposing  2,318  points  lost 
and  as  many  won  each  year  (a  ver}^  fair  allow- 
ance of  play),  but  for  this  fault,  then  2,218  only 
would  be  won  and  2,418  lost,  a  balance  of  200 
to  the  bad,  by  a  player  who  committed  the 
fault  into  which  you  have  just  fallen,  partner. 
At  a  sovereign  each,  which  is  higher  play  than 
I  recommend  for  neophytes  like  you,  you 
would  probably  lose  ^200  per  annum.  But 
then  (also  probably)  you  would  correct  the 
fault  of  play  before  the  year  was  out.  However, 
we  must  not  keep  the  table  waiting.  Mr. 
Vincent  Flemyng,  it  is  your  turn  to  deal." 

It  is  singular  that,  being  so  fine  a  game  as  it 
is,  whist  should  be  so  little  known.  I  have  just 
said,  indeed,  that  every  one  in  England  loves 
whist.  I  should  have  said  that  every  one  loves 
a  game  which  is  supposed  to  be  whist.  But 
ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  of  those  who  sup- 
pose they  play  whist  hardly  know  what  the  game 
is.  The  game  at  which  they  really  play  has 
been  called  by  the  ingenious  Pembridge  "  bum- 
blepuppy."  It  is  a  sort  of  a  blunder-blindfold 
game,   which  must   be   interesting,   I  suppose, 


294  1KIlbi6t  IRuaa^ts 


since  so  many  play  it.  Nay,  let  us  be  honest. 
Even  we  who  know  what  whist  is  (which  is  by 
no  means  claiming  to  pla}^  finely)  have  most  of 
us  had  a  period  of  bumblepuppy.  Can  we  not 
remember  how  we  sat  gravely  down  to  what  we 
called  whist  ?  When  our  hands  were  delivered 
to  us,  we  set  down  in  our  minds  each  ace  as  a 
card  to  be  led  at  the  first  opportunity.  We 
had  little  fear  about  our  kings,  for  we  knew 
that  the  aces  over  them  would  be  led  out  by 
the  other  players  just  as  frankly  as  we  should 
lead  out  our  own.  Even  queens  had  a  fair 
chance.  But  the  single  card  was  our  chief  de- 
light. That  was  led  out  at  once,  and  so  our 
little  trumps  were  safely  made ;  for  no  one 
would  think  of  leading  out  trumps  while  there 
seemed  to  be  a  chance  of  using  any  in  ruffing. 
Somehow,  a  trick  made  by  ruffing  seemed  worth 
two  made  in  any  other  way.  If  no  chance  came 
for  a  ruflf,  trumps  were  reserved  to  the  last.  But 
even  then  our  game  retained  its  beautiful  sim- 
plicity of  character.  The  ace  came  out  first, 
then  in  due  order  the  king  and  the  queen.  To 
have  led   a   small   card    from    ace,  queen,  and 


Some  mbist  Cbat  295 


others,  would  have  seemed  wild  audacity,  which 
might  indeed  succeed  at  times,  but  was  too 
imprudent  to  be  encouraged. 

This  game,  however,  the  whist  of  the  home 
circle  and  of  Western  America  (in  the  Eastern 
States  many  Americans  know  true  whist  "real 
well"),  is  not  whist  at  all.  It  owes  its  interest 
solely  to  chance.  A  player  of  this  bumblepuppy 
game,  who  has  been  lucky  in  getting  a  number 
of  good  hands,  does  indeed  arrogate  to  himself 
the  character  of  a  good  player.  He  seems  to 
regard  his  luck  as  something  due  to  personal 
influence.  Indeed,  oddly  enough,  while  a  good 
whist-player,  even  if,  with  a  good  partner,  he 
has  to  play  against  two  bumblepuppy  players, 
will  never  be  assured  of  success,  knowing  how 
uncertain  the  chances  are,  you  will  generally 
find  one  of  these  know-nothings  boasting  con- 
fidently that  he  will  win.  Another  way  of 
recognizing  the  whist  duffers  is  by  their  manner 
when  the  cards  favor  them.  A  good  player, 
when  he  and  his  partner  have  made  five  or  six 
by  cards,  will  not  be  loudly  jubilant,  though, 
touching  on  the  help  received  from  the  cards. 


296  mbist  1Ru9Ciet6 


he  may  congratulate  his  partner  on  some  suc- 
cessful stroke  of  strategy ;  but  the  player  of 
bumblepuppy,  when  he  and  his  partner,  having 
all  the  honors  ,  and  five  out  of  six  of  the  re- 
maining high  cards,  have  won  the  odd  trick 
and  so  made  a  treble,  will  say  :  "  He  knew  they 
would  win,"  "  He  always  does  win,"  and  other- 
wise take  credit  for  a  success  which  not  even 
the  skill  of  a  Deschapelles  could  have  managed 
to  avert.  ■ 

But  though  domestic  whist,  or  bumblepuppy, 
has  "  these  violent  delights"  for  its  exponents, 
it  is  not  a  game  worth  playing  or  talking  about. 

Major  a  ca  n  a  m  u  s  ! 

What  is  the  real  game  of  whist  then,  the 
reader  may  ask,  if  domestic  whist  is  not  whist 
at  all  ?  Is  not  the  object  the  same  ?  No  doubt 
it  is.  The  object  of  whist  is  to  secure  as  many 
tricks  as  possible.  High  cards  tell  at  whist  as 
at  bumblepuppy  (I  thank  thee,  Pembridge,  for 
teaching  me  that  word  !)  Nay,  in  quite  a  num- 
ber of  hands,  luck  tells  as  much  at  one  game 
as  at  the  other,  and  if  the  whist  player  is  of 
sordid  mind,  as  many  are,  he  rejoices  at  the  dull 


Some  mbist  Cbat  297 


hands  in  which  he  has  only  had  to  play  out 
winning  cards  as  much  as  the  veriest  duffer  of 
domestic  whist  at  the  way  in  which  aces  and 
kings  take  tricks.  But  whist  is  a  game  of 
science,  a  game  calling  for  the  exercise  of  keen 
perception,  watchfulness,  memory,  patience  and 
trust  in  the  established  laws  of  probability.  It 
ma}'  sound  like  exaggeration  to  say  that  whist 
is  far  better  calculated  to  develop  the  mind  than 
many  things  taught  at  school,  yet  many  a  man 
can  perceive  a  real  gain  to  his  mental  qualities 
from  whist  practice,  who  would  find  it  hard  to 
recognize  any  good  which  he  has  obtained  from 
learning  how"  to  write  Latin  verses  with  due  at- 
tention to  the  niceties  of  the  ccssura.  A  course 
of  whist  play  is  a  capital  way  of  training  the 
memory,  the  powers  of  attention,  and  the 
temper  ;  but  nine  boys  out  of  ten  gain  nothing 
from  a  course  of  practice  in  determining  the 
greatest  common  measures  and  the  least  com- 
mon multiples  of  algebraical  quantities. 

Indeed,  many  of  our  best  whist-players  are 
complaining  that  whist  is  becoming  too  full  of 
points  requiring  to  be  noticed  and  kept  in  the 


298  Wibiet  nnggcte 

memory,  A  system  has  come  into  existence 
within  the  last  thirty  or  forty  years  by  which  a 
player  can  convey  information  to  his  partner  in 
various  ways  ;  and  it  is  urged  that  instead  of 
giving  their  minds  to  points  of  whist  strategy, 
players  now  have  to  be  constantly  looking  out 
for  this  signal  or  that  indication.  Many  of  the 
old  players  determine  to  have  nothing  to  do  with 
all  this  signalling  ;  but,  alas  for  them  !  they 
have  no  choice.  It  is  too  strong  for  them. 
Though  they  may  never  signal  themselves ; 
though  they  may  resolutely  decline  to  respond 
to  any  signal  made  by  their  partner,  they  mus^ 
notice  the  signals  alike  of  their  partner  and  of 
the  adversaries,  or  all  sorts  of  disasters  will  hap- 
pen, for  which  their  partners  will  properly  hold 
them  responsible.  Thus,  a  player  signals  for 
trumps,  and  presently  his  partner  responds  by 
leading  him  a  trump.  Suppose  now  one  of  the 
Giber  players  has  failed  to  notice  the  signal. 
He  falls  naturally  into  the  mistake  of  supposing 
that  the  player  who  has  led  trumps  is  strong  iu 
them  and  that  the  other  adversary  is  presum- 
ably weak.     Under  this  mistake   he  presently 


Some  llClbist  Gbat  299 

forces  what  he  supposes  to  be  the  strong  trump 
hand,  but  in  reality  enables  the  weak  hand  to 
make  trumps  which  would  otherwise  have  fallen 
idle.  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  having  a  chance 
of  forcing  the  strong  trump  hand,  the  player 
who  has  failed  to  notice  the  signal  refrains 
religiously  from  doing  so,  imagining  that  he 
would  be  helping  the  enemy  instead  of  cutting 
down  his  trump  strength.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, partner,  if  of  the  reproachful  sort,  can 
rebuke  much  more  effectively  than  where  his 
own  signal  has  merely  been  revoked.  To  the 
reproach,  "  Why  did  you  not  lead  me  a  trump 
when  I  signalled?"  there  is  always  the  ready 
answer,  "I  saw  your  signal,  and  I  declined  to 
respond  to  it,  because  I  object  to  the  signalling 
system."  But  what  answ^er  can  be  made  when 
your  partner  says,  **  My  good  sir,  you  played  the 
enemy's  game?  there  was  Y  signalling  for 
trumps,  and  you  deliberately  forced  Z,  giving 
him  just  the  trick  which  made  their  game  ;  or 
you  failed  to  force  Y,  though  that  was  the  only 
way  to  save  our  game."  You  cannot  answer 
that  you  saw  the  signal,  but  preferred  to  sacri- 


300  mbldt    nxXQQCtB 

fice  the  game  rather  than  act  upon  it.  You  are 
obliged  to  tell  the  truth  (and  what  could  be 
more  painful?)  that  you  had  failed  to  notice 
the  enemy's  signal. 

Whist — the  real  game  of  whist,  I  mean — de- 
rives its  interest  entirely  from  strategy,  by 
which  either  tricks  are  made  by  cards  which 
would  not,  but  for  such  strategy,  have  power  to 
take  those  tricks,  or  by  which  the  plans  of  the 
adversaries  to  achieve  such  ends  are  detected 
and  foiled.  Tricks  may  be  made  by  high  cards, 
but  there  is  no  interest  in  that.  Any  one  can 
take  a  trick  with  the  ace  of  trumps.  Tricks 
may  be  made  by  finesse — that  is,  by  playing, 
instead  of  the  best  card,  a  lower  card,  which 
may  or  may  not  take  the  trick  according  as  the 
intermediate  card  or  cards  lie  to  the  right  or 
left.  This  is  better ;  but  the  finesse  pure  and 
simple  is  a  matter  of  mere  chance,  and  so  far  as 
the  actual  gain  of  a  trick  is  concerned  there  is 
no  more  scientific  joy  in  the  success  of  a  finesse 
than  in  the  capture  of  a  trick  b}'  a  high  card. 
There  is  science  in  the  finesse  ;  but  the  scien- 
tific interest  does  not  depend  on  the  direct  sue- 


Some  imibist  Cbat  301 

cess  or  failure  of  the  finesse  at  the  moment, 
but  on  its  bearing  upon  the  general  play  of  the 
hand.  Again,  tricks  may  be  made  by  trumping 
winning  cards  of  plain  suits.  There  is  often 
good  science  in  bringing  this  about  properly, 
not  by  the  coarse  lead  of  a  single  card  or  from 
a  two-card  suit,  but  by  so  arranging  matters 
that  the  ruff,  when  made,  shall  not  impair,  but 
utilize  the  trump  strength  which  lies  between 
you  and  your  partner.  Special  pleasure  is  there 
in  the  cross-rufF  when  ingeniously  secured  and 
properly  employed ;  still  more  pleasure  in 
tempting  the  enemy  to  a  cross-ruff,  which,  while 
not  lasting  long  enough  to  give  them  more  than 
three  or  four  tricks,  just  destroys  their  superior 
trump  strength.  But  the  great  delight  of  whist 
strategy  lies  in  the  manoeuvres  by  which  small 
cards  are  made  to  conquer  large  ones,  as  when 
a  long  suit  is  successfully  brought  in,  or  the 
enemy  forced  by  skilful  strategy  to  lead  up  to 
a  tenace.  Nor  is  there  less  pleasure  in  noting 
and  foiling  the  plans  of  the  adversary  for  achiev- 
ing these  same  ends.  Nay,  to  the  true  player 
there  ought  to  be  pleasure  even  in  noting  the 


302  Wibiet  "UixQQCts 


skill  by  which  the  enemy  achieves  success  ;  but 
I  fear  me  this  is  more  than  most  players  of  whist 
attain  to,  however  earnest  may  be  their  whist 
enthusiasm. 

Of  course  chance  has  its  part  even  in  scien- 
tific whist.  In  playing  30,000  rubbers  one  of 
the  finest  living  players  of  the  game  lost 
nearly  15,000,  gaining  only  a  balance  of  about 
600  rubbers.  Among  the  thousands  of  rub- 
bers, a  goodly  proportion  must  have  been  lost 
against  bad  play  and  by  the  sheer  influence  of 
cards,  that  is,  of  chance.  There  must  be  some 
villainous  whist-players  living  who  can  boast 
that  they  have  played  several  rubbers  against 
this  fine  player  and  won  every  rubber  they 
played.  Then,  again,  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
good  cards  being  beaten  by  sheer  bad  luck. 
Thus,  there  is  that  famous  hand  in  which  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  held  ace,  king,  queen, 
and  knave,  in  one  plain  suit ;  ace,  king,  queen  in 
another ;  ace,  king,  in  the  third ;  while  in  trumps 
he  held  king,  knave,  nine,  and  seven  ;  yet  with 
this  perfectly  magnificent  hand  and  the  lead, 
leading  also  quite  correctly,  he  did  not  make  a 


Some  Mbist  Cbat  303 

single  trick.  Yet,  altliough  chance  thus  plays 
an  important  part  in  whist,  and  is,  indeed,  re- 
garded by  many  as  the  element  which  gives  to 
whist  its  great  interest,  the  game  even  in  its 
partial  dependence  on  chance  is  a  scientific 
one.  Only  science  can  answer  the  questions 
which  the  chance  element  introduces.  Only 
science  can  avail  to  get  the  best  results  which 
the  different  components  of  the  hands  leave 
open  to  a  player  and  his  partner.  When  to 
scientific  acumen  are  added  a  good  memory,  a 
careful  and  attentive  mind,  readiness  in  obser- 
vation, brilliance  of  conception  and  aptitude  in 
execution,  we  get  the  elements  of  fine  play. 
But  it  is  not  true  of  the  whist-player  that  he  is 
born,  not  made.  Practice  alone  can  combine 
these  elements  to  form  a  really  fine  player. 

Chance,  indeed,  in  whist  causes  good  play 
often  to  fail  and  bad  play  to  succeed.  This  is 
little  understood  by  bad  players.  They  judge 
only  by  immediate  results,  and  if  a  sound  rule 
leads  to  disaster,  as  must  inevitably  happen  in 
a  certain  proportion  of  cases  to  which  it  is 
applied,  they  vow  that  the  rule  is  a  bad  one, 


304  mbist  1Flu0cjet3 

and  are  apt  thenceforth  to  follow  the  unsound 
converse  rule.  For  instance,  it  may  be  shown 
that  in  a  majority  of  cases  leading  a  small  card 
from  ace,  three  small  ones,  will  be  successful, 
the  ace  taking  the  second  trick  and  the  two 
first  tricks  going  far  to  clear  the  suit.  But 
sometimes  this  sound  lead  turns  out  badly. 
Your  partner  holds,  perhaps,  the  queen,  fourth 
player  the  fourchette  to  the  queen — i.e.^  knave, 
king  ;  the  first  trick  falls  to  the  king,  your  ace 
is  trumped  second  round  and  when  trumps  are 
exhausted  the  holder  of  the  knave  is  found  to 
have  two  more  of  the  suit,  both  of  which  he 
makes,  besides  the  knave  (and  the  king  which 
he  had  made  the  first  round)  or  four  tricks  in 
the  suit,  besides  the  trick  made  by  the  ruff  on 
your  ace.  This  is  rough  on  the  sound  lead,  and 
some  players  can  never  forget  such  a  contre- 
temps. They  forthwith  adopt  the  system  of 
leading  the  ace  first  from  a  suit  of  four  to  the 
ace.  Now,  in  this  case,  there  is  really  some- 
thing to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  ace  lead,  which 
is  adopted  on  the  Continent.  The  balance  of 
advantages  in  favor  of  the  small  card  lead  is 


some  Timbiat  Gbat  305 


not  heavy.  Still  the  odds  are  in  its  favor. 
Now,  suppose  there  were  a  teetotum  with 
eleven  faces,  six  marked  with  an  A,  five  with  a 
Z,  and  a  small  bet  depended  on  the  selection  of 
the  face  which  would  come  uppermost.  Any- 
one who  w^agered  on  the  A  systematically 
would  be  bound  to  win  in  the  long  run  of  many 
trials.  If  there  were  i,ioo  trials  he  would  be 
right  about  600  times  and  wrong  about  500 
times,  or  would  gairi  about  100  times  the 
amount  of  his  wager.  In  11,000  trials  he 
would  be  still  more  certain  that  he  would  win 
his  wager  by  about  one-eleventh  of  the  total 
number  of  trials.  Yet  he  would  lose  a  number 
of  times.  It  would  often  happen  that  he  would 
lose  ten  or  twelve  times  in  succession.  If  he 
had  been  assured  that  the  rule  given  to  him 
was  a  sound  one,  but  had  not  been  allowed  to 
look  at  the  teetotum,  and  it  so  chanced  that  his 
first  ten  trials  were  all,  or  most  of  them  unfa- 
vorable, it  would  be  natural  for  him  to  begin  to 
doubt  whether  the  rule  were  really  sound. 
But  if  the  teetotum  were  shown  to  him,  and  he 
found    there  were  six  A  faces  to  only  five  B 


3o6  'CClbist  IFlucicjets 

faces,  with  an  equal  chauce  of  any  one  of 
these  faces  showing,  he  would  certainly  be 
unwise  to  give  up  the  sound  A  selection  and 
adopt  the  unsound  Z  selection  merely  because 
it  had  happened  that  a  few  chance  trials  had 
given  results  unfavorable  to  the  better  choice. 
Now  this  is  precisel}^  what  those  whist  play- 
ers do  who  reject  sound  for  unsound  play, 
because  sound  play  has  occasionally  turned  out 
badly. 

But,  of  course,  it  must  happen  in  a  certain 
proportion  of  cases  that  the  right  lead  turns  out 
unluckily.  In  two  cases  out  of  three  the  king 
falls  to  the  enemy's  ace,  and  the  short-sighted 
seeing  no  farther,  thinks  this  proves  the  lead  to 
be  bad.  But  even  in  the  further  play  of  the  suit 
the  result  may  be  unfortunate.  From  a  rough 
computation  which  I  have  made,  I  find  reason 
to  conclude  that  leading  king  from  king,  queen, 
and  two  others  turns  out  well  in  about  five  cases 
out  of  nine.  If  my  computation  is  right  (the 
difficulty  lies  in  taking  into  account  the  multi- 
tudinous varieties  of  arrangement  outside  the 
suit),  then  the  lead  turns  out  ill  in   four  cases 


Some  TKHbist  Cbat  307 


out  of  nine.  Depend  upon  it,  cavillers  will  pay 
much  more  attention  to  those  four  ninths  of  all 
the  cases  in  which  the  lead  fails  than  to  the 
cases,  though  twenty-five  per  cent,  more  num- 
erous, in  which  the  lead  turns  out  well.  But, 
of  course,  the  sound  whist-player  systematically 
adopts  the  lead  which  will  turn  out  well  in  the 
majority  of  cases  ;  he  would  do  so  even  though 
the  odds  in  his  favor  were  not  more  than  loi 
to  100. 

In  the  course  of  the  reasoning  just  given,  I 
have  touched  on  the  chance  that  a  suit  will  go 
round  such  and  such  a  number  of  times.  Most 
of  the  rules  for  leading  at  whist  depend  on 
this  particular  chance,  the  calculation  of  which 
is  easy  enough,  so  far  as  principles  are  con- 
cerned, though  laborious  in  practice.  The 
whist-player  cannot  conveniently  run  through 
these  calculations  while  the  rest  of  the  table 
wait  for  him  to  play.  But  rules  of  play,  based 
either  upon  calculation  or  on  long  practice 
leading  to  the  same  conclusions,  should  be 
adopted  systematically,  as  bound  to  be  best  in 
the  long  run.     Of  course,   circumstances  alter 


3o8  mblst  Buggctg 

cases.  Among  the  forty  games  I  have  collected 
in  How  to  Play  Whist,  there  is  one  in  which 
that  fine  player,  Mr.  F.  G.  I^ewis,  ran  counter 
to  two  rules  in  the  very  first  card  he  played  (the 
opening  lead)  :  having  five  trumps,  he  did  not 
lead  a  trump,  and  leading  from  a  plain  suit  of 
five  cards  headed  by  the  ace  he  led  the  lowest 
but  one  (the  customary  lead  when  the  suit  is 
not  headed  by  the  ace)  instead  of  the  ace,  the 
usual  and  generally  the  best  lead.  But  that 
was  because  a  higher  rule  overrode  both  those 
other  rules — viz.y  the  rule  that  you  should  play 
to  win. 

I  proceed  to  state  some  of  the  chances  of  par- 
ticular arrangements  of  the  cards  in  a  particular 
hand,  or  of  the  cards  of  an}'  suits  in  different 
hands.  I  shall  not,  as  I  did  in  my  essay  on 
poker,  indicate  the  reasoning  by  which  the 
various  results  have  been  obtained,  for  that 
reasoning  was  found  rather  difficult  by  those 
unacquainted  with  the  methods  of  calculation 
considered,  while  those  acquainted  with  the 
laws  of  combination  can  reason  out  the  matter, 
I  have  no  doubt,  for  themselves. 


some  Timbist  Cbat  309 


SOME   OF   THE   CHANCES    OF   WHIST. 

There  are  no  less  than  635,013,359,600  ways 
in  which  a  hand  can  be  made.  That  all  the 
cards  in  the  hand  may  be  trumps  (the  dealer's 
of  course,  must  be  taken),  the  chance  is  but  one 
in  158,753,389,900  (one  fourth  of  the  number 
just  mentioned).  A  few  years  ago  (see  "  Whist 
Whittling,"  in  Hozv  to  Play  Whist,  pp.  190, 
191)  two  cases  of  the  kind  were  recorded,  and 
many  seemed  to  suppose  that  there  must  be 
something  wrong  in  the  mathematical  compu- 
tation of  the  chance.  For,  they  said,  in  158,- 
753,389,900  cases  only  one  would  give  this 
particular  hand,  and  yet  two  cases  occurred 
within  a  few  years  of  each  other,  within  which 
time  so  many  hands  could  not  possibly  have 
been  dealt.  Now  there  was  here,  at  starting, 
the  fallacy  that  because  but  one  case  in  so  many 
is  favorable,  so  many  trials  must  be  made  to 
give  an  even  chance  of  the  event  occurring.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  a  much  smaller  number  of 
trials  is  necessary  to  give  an  even  chance.  Take 
a  simple   case — the   tossing   of  a  coin.       Here 


3IO  Mbi6t  IRu^getg 


there  are  two  possible  results,  but  it  does  not 
take  two  trials  to  give  an  even  chance  of  tossing 
head — one  trial  suffices  for  that ;  and  the  chance 
of  tossing  head  once  at  least  in  two  trials 
instead  of  being  one  half  is  three  fourths  ;  the 
odds  are  not  even,  but  three  to  one  in  favor  of 
tossing  a  head.  In  like  manner,  if  158,753,389,- 
900  hands  were  dealt,  the  odds  are  not  even, but 
largely  in  favor  of  a  hand  of  thirteen  trumps 
being  among  them.  Moreover,  ifthe  odds  were 
shown  to  be  ten  or  even  twenty  to  one  against 
the  event  occurring  in  a  much  smaller  given 
number  of  trials,  yet  there  is  nothing  very  sur- 
prising in  an  event  occurring  when  the  odds 
against  it  are  ten  or  twenty  to  one.  But  large 
though  the  number  just  mentioned  may  seem, 
the  number  of  whist-players  is  also  large.  It 
would  not  be  much  out  of  the  way  to  suppose 
that  among  all  the  whist-playing  nations  of  the 
earth  a  million  whist  parties  play  per  diem,  and 
to  each  we  may  fairly  assign  twent}'  deals.  On 
this  assumption  it  would  require  only  7,950  days 
or  not  much  more  than  twenty  years,  to  give 
159,000,000,000   trials,  or  much  more  than  an 


Some  Mbl6t  Cbat  311 

even  chauce  of  the  remarkable  hand  in  question. 
Then,  too,  there  are  cases  where  the  trumps  are 
more  likely  to  be  distributed  to  one  hand  than 
if  the  distribution  were  absolutely  at  random. 
Thus  suppose  a  cross-ruff  has  been  established 
in  a  game,  and  five  or  six  tricks  taken  that  way  ; 
then  it  can  readily  happen  that  the  five  or  six 
trumps  which  have  thus  fallen  take  the  same 
position  in  each  of  the  five  or  six  tricks  gath- 
ered by  the  same  player.  Suppose  such  a  thing 
to  happen,  with  five  trumps  only,  once  in  a  thou- 
sand games.  Then  it  can  be  shown  that  the 
chance  of  the  remaining  cards  of  that  suit  all 
falling  into  the  same  hand  is  one  in  2,629,575, 
making  the  chance  of  both  events  coming  off, 
and  all  thirteen  cards  falling  into  one  hand,  one 
in  2,629,575,0a),  or  the  odds  only  2,629,574,999 
to  I  (instead  of  158,753,389,899  to  i)  against  all 
thirteen  trumps  being  in  one  hand.  Large  even 
as  these  odds  are,  the  real  odds  must  be  much 
larger  ;  otherwise,  with  the  great  number  of 
whist  hands  constantly  being  dealt,  we  should 
hear  of  all-trump  hands  two  or  three  times  a 
year  at  least. 


312  Mbist  1Ruga^t3 

Turn  now  from  this  very  rare  hand  to  the  ar- 
rangements which  occur  most  frequently.  It 
then  might  seem  as  though  the  commonest  of 
all  arrangements  would  be  the  one  by  which  the 
cards  are  distributed  most  uniformly  among  the 
suits — 7.  e.,  four  of  one  suit,  and  three  of  each  of 
the  other  suits.  But  this  is  not  the  case.  In 
one  sense,  indeed,  this  is  the  commonest  kind 
of  hand.  If  you  take  a  given  suit — say  clubs,  for 
the  four-card  suit — then  there  are  16,726,464,040 
possible  arrangements,  giving  four  clubs,  three 
hearts,  three  diamonds  and  three  spades ;  and 
there  are  not  so  many  arrangements  for  any 
hand  in  which  each  particular  suit  is  assigned 
a  particular  number  of  cards.  But  as  the  four- 
card  suit  can  be  chosen  in  four  different  ways, 
we  get  66,905,856,160  possible  arrangements  of 
a  hand  with  four  of  one  suit  and  three  of  each 
of  the  others.  Now,  taking  a  hand  with  four 
of  each  of  two  suits,  three  of  another,  and  two 
of  the  fourth  suit,  we  find  that  if  we  assign  defi- 
nite suits  for  the  three  cards  and  for  the  two 
cards — say  we  have  three  hearts  and  two  dia- 
monds  in   each  hand — there   are  only  11,404,- 


Some  Mbist  Cbat  313 


407,300  possible  arrangements  giving  four  clubs, 
three  hearts,  three  spades  and  two  diamonds. 
This  is  considerably  less  than  the  number  giv- 
ing four  clubs,  three  hearts,  three  spades,  and 
three  diamonds,  to  which,  as  a  special  arrange- 
ment for  those  suits,  it  comes  next  in  frequency. 
But,  instead  of  having  only  four  ways  in  which 
to  distribute  our  suits,  we  now  have  twelve. 
We  can  have  au}^  one  of  the  four  suits  for  our 
two-card  suit,  and  combine  with  any  one  of  the 
three  remaining  suits  for  our  three-card  suit, 
giving  four  times  three,  or  twelve,  possible  ways 
of  distributing  the  suits.  Thus  we  have  twelve 
times  the  above  number,  or  136,852,887,600  dif- 
ferent arrangements  of  the  cards  in  a  hand  giv- 
ing two  of  one  suit,  three  of  another,  and  four 
of  each  of  the  two  remaining  suits.  This  is  of 
all  arrangements  the  commonest.  Out  of  any 
large  number  of  hands  dealt  to  any  one  in  a 
long  course  of  whist-play  more  than  a  fifth,  or 
more  exactly  342,132,219  out  of  1,587,533,899, 
will  be  hands  containing  two  four-card  suits,  a 
three-card  suit  and  a  two-card  suit. 

Next  in   frequency    come   hands  containing 


314  Mblst  1FlugQet6 

one  five-card  suit,  two  three-card  suits  and  one 
two-card  suit.  Of  these  there  are  in  all  98,534,- 
079,072,  or,  roughly,  about  three  hands  in  twenty 
are  of  this  kind.  Given  the  suits,  which  are  to 
have  five  cards  and  two  cards,  there  are  8,211,- 
173)256  possible  arrangements  ;  but  each  can 
be  taken  twelve  different  ways  by  distributing 
the  suits. 

The  third  kind  of  hand  in  order  of  frequency 
is  one  containing  five  of  one  suit,  four  of  an- 
other, three  of  a  third,  and  one  of  the  fourth. 
Of  such  hands  there  are  in  all  82,111,732,560; 
rather  more  than  one  hand  in  eight  is  of  this 
kind.  But  when  the  suits  are  given  to  which 
these  several  members  are  to  be  assigned,  we 
find  a  very  much  smaller  number  of  possible  ar- 
rangements than  in  the  preceding  or  even  than 
in  the  next  case.  For  the  largeness  of  the  num- 
ber just  mentioned  arises  from  the  circumstance 
that  as  each  suit  has  a  different  number  of 
cards,  we  can  distribute  the  suits  in  twenty-four 
instead  of  twelve  different  ways  (as  in  each  of 
the  last  two  cases).  Thus  we  can  have  any  one 
of  the  four  suits  for  the  five-card  suit,  and  com- 


Some  mblst  Cbat  315 

bine  each  of  these  four  with  any  one  of  the 
remaining  three  suits  for  the  four-card  suit,  giv- 
ing twelve  combinations,  each  of  which  can  be 
combined  with  two  arrangements  of  the  remain- 
ing suits  as  the  three-card  and  one-card  suits, 
giving  twenty-four  combinations  in  all.  Thus 
the  number  of  possible  arrangements,  when  the 
suits  are  assigned  beforehand  to  the  several 
numbers,  is  only  one  twenty-fourth  of  the  num- 
ber just  mentioned,  or  3,421,322,190. 

The  hand  coming  fourth  in  order  of  frequency 
is  one  containing  one  five-card  suit,  one  four- 
card  suit,  and  two  two-card  suits.  Of  such 
hands  there  are  67,182,336,640,  or  about  two 
hands  in  nineteen  are  of  this  kind.  But  as 
there  are  only  twelve  ways  in  which  the  suits 
can  be  distributed,  we  have  only  to  divide  this 
number  by  twelve  instead  of  by  twenty-four,  as 
in  the  preceding  case,  to  give  the  number  of 
arrangements  when  the  suits  are  assigned.  We 
thus  get  5,598,527,220  arrangements,  a  consid- 
erably larger  number  than  in  the  preceding  case. 

Only  fifth  in  order  of  frequency  comes  the 
hand  which  many  suppose  the  most  frequent, 


3i6  llClbist  IRucigets 

viz.^  the  hand  of  greatest  uniformity  of  distri- 
bution, already  considered.  The  total  number 
of  such  hands,  66,905,856,160,  is  very  near  to 
the  number  in  the  last  case  ;  but  the  number  of 
arrangements  when  the  several  suits  are  as- 
signed is  very  much  greater,  being  no  less  than 
16,726,464,040. 

Here  we  may  stop,  noting  only  that  the  sixth 
hand  in  order  of  frequency,  with  a  six-card 
suit,  a  three-card  suit  and  two  two-card  suits, 
comes  very  far  behind  the  fifth,  its  number  being 
only  35,830,574,208,  or  little  more  than  half  the 
number  for  a  four,  three,  three,  three  hand.  In 
Hozu  to  Play  IVhist,  the  numbers  for  all  possi- 
ble arrangements  of  hands  are  given  (p.  196). 

But  now  we  should  notice  that  the  numbers 
of  ways  in  which  the  thirteen  cards  of  a  hand 
may  be  distributed  among  the  four  suits  are 
also  the  numbers  of  ways  in  which  the  thirteen 
cards  of  a  suit  may  be  distributed  among  the 
four  hands.  We  see,  then,  that  the  most  prob- 
able arrangement  is  that  there  will  be  four  cards 
of  the  suit  in  each  of  two  hands,  three  in  an- 
other hand,  two  in  the  fourth.     The  next  most 


Some  "Wllbist  Cbat  317 

probable  arrangement  is  that  there  will  be  five 
cards  of  the  suit  in  one  hand,  three  in  each  of 
two  other  hands,  and  two  in  the  fourth  ;  and  so 
on,  precisely  (so  far  as  numerical  statistics  are 
concerned)  as  in  the  corresponding  cases  con- 
sidered above  with  regard  to  the  distribution  of 
cards  in  a  suit.  Only  fifth  in  order  of  frequency 
conies  the  case  of  what  is  familiarl}^  called  "an 
honest  suit" — that  is,  a  suit  which  will  go 
round  three  times.  It  is  more  than  four  and 
one  third  times  as  likely  that  at  least  five  of  a 
suit  wrill  be  in  one  hand  (corresponding  to  the 
second,  third,  and  fourth  cases  considered  above, 
and  to  seven  other  cases  of  less  frequency,  down 
to  the  case  of  eight  cards  of  the  suit  in  one  hand 
and  five  in  another)  as  that  there  will  not 
be  less  than  three  of  the  suit  in  each  hand. 
The  chance  even  that  no  hand  will  hold  more 
than  four  of  the  suit  is  less  than  the  chance 
that  there  will  be  five  cards  in  one  hand  at 
least.  There  are  about  thirteen  cases  of  the 
former  kind  to  seventeen  of  the  latter. 

If  any  one  holds  four  of  a  suit,  the  chance 
that  the  suit  will  go  round   three  times  i«  about 


3i8  mbiet  IFlugaets 

149  to  1,000.  But  this  is  not  (as  has  been  incor- 
rectly stated  of  late)  the  chance  that  the  suit 
will  escape  ruflfing  third  round ;  for  that  will 
happen  even  though  the  suit  does  not  go  around 
thrice,  if  partner  holds  the  short  suit.  A  suit, 
of  which  the  original  leader  holds  four,  will  es- 
cape rufi&ng  by  the  enemy,  if  partners  hold  two, 
and  the  adversaries  four  and  three,  if  partner 
holds  one  and  the  adversaries  five  and  three,  or 
four  and  four  ;  and  lastly,  if  partner  holds  none 
and  the  adversaries  five  and  four  or  six  and 
three.  The  chance  is  one  third  in  each  case 
that  it  is  partner  and  not  one  of  the  adversaries 
who  holds  the  short  suit. 

One  other  case  may  be  considered.  Nearly 
every  one  who  has  played  whist  much  must 
have  had  at  times  a  Yarborough  hand — that  is, 
a  hand  in  which  there  is  no  card  above  a  nine. 
Pembridge  says  he  has  held  three  of  these  hands 
in  the  course  of  two  hours ;  but  this  is,  of  course, 
altogether  unusual.  T^e  name  given  to  a  hand 
of  this  sort  is  derived  from  a  certain  Lord  Yar- 
borough, who  used  to  offer  the  attractive  but 
really  very  safe  wager  of  ,,/ri,ooo  to  ^i,  that  a 


Some  Mblst  Cbat  319 


hand  of  this  sort  would  not  be  dealt.  If  Lord 
Yarborough  had  not  calculated  the  chances  (or 
had  them  calculated  for  him)  he  acted  with 
little  wisdom  in  betting  at  all  on  such  a  matter  ; 
but  if  he  knew  them  he  acted  with  little  fair- 
ness in  offering  the  odds  he  did.  It  will  be  found 
that  one  hand  in  about  1,828  is  a  Yarborough, 
so  that  Ivord  Yarborough  ought  to  have  wagered 
^1,827  to  ;^i,  instead  of  ;^i, 000  to  ^i.  It  is  said 
that  he  laid  this  wager  many  thousands  of  times. 
Supposing  he  offered  ^1,000  to  £1,  to  each 
member  of  a  whist  party,  for  ten  deals,  on  about 
ninety-one  or  ninety-two  nights,  in  each  of  ten 
years,  making  in  all  about  36,560  wagers — /.  e., 
twenty  times  1,828 — he  would  have  lost  about 
twenty  times,  or  ^20,000,  and  won  about  jCz^r 
500,  making  a  clear  profit  of  about  ;^i6,5oo,  or 
;^i,650  per  annum,  by  this  seemingly  reckless 
system  of  wagering. 

An  instance,  lastly,  is  on  record  of  a  hand 
containing  four  twos,  four  threes,  four  fours 
and  one  five.  Any  one  holding  such  a  hand 
might  well  believe  himself  especially  selected 
for  punishment  by  the  deities  or  demons,  who- 


320  TlQlbist  IRugacts 

ever  they  may  be,  who  preside  over  the  for- 
tunes of  whist-players.  Yet  such  a  hand  is 
bound  to  occur  from  time  to  time,  when  so 
many  play  whist.  The  chance  of  holding  such 
a  hand  is,  in  fact,  exactly  the  same  as  the  chance 
of  holding  all  the  trumps,  viz.,  one  in  158,753,- 
389,000.  For  there  are  only  four  possible  ways 
in  which  such  a  hand  can  be  made  up.  It  must 
hold  the  twelve  lowest  cards  in  the  pack,  and 
one  five,  which  may  be  of  any  of  the  four  suits  ; 
hence  there  are  four  hands  having  no  card 
higher  than  a  five  out  of  635,013,559,600,  or  one 
chance  of  such  a  hand  in  158,753,389,090.  Yet 
I  have  no  manner  of  doubt — so  foolish  are  men 
in  regard  to  betting — that  if  a  Lord  Yarborough 
of  to-day  were  to  offer  ^10,000  to  £1  (instead 
of  ^158,753,389,000  to  i)  against  the  occur- 
rence  of   such   a   hand  he   would    find   many 

'-.akers. 

R.  A.  Proctor, 
in  Longman' s  Magazine, 

THE   END. 


Iknlcherbocher  IRuggete^ 


Nugget. — "A  diminutive  mass  of   precious  metal." 


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1Rntcherl)oc??er  IRuggets. 


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With  illustrations  by  Creswick,  Gilbert,  and 
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Reprinted  from  the  early,  complete  edition.     Very 
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1kntcfterbocl?er  IFlugcjcts. 


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Iknlckerbocl^er  IRuaaets. 


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Iftnlckerbocher  IRugacts. 


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IRnicherbochcr  Buggets. 


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1ftnic??erbocfter  IKluggets.  vii 


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